Steven Universe and the Mysterious Figure
by Teddy.ET
Summary: A mysterious person appears to be following Steven and Amethyst as they enter the Kindergarten. Is it a Homeworld Gem, a Human or a new Gem never seen by the Crystal Gems? Follow the Crystal Gems as they find out the trust about Rose Quartz, the Diamond Authority and their newest person!
1. (1) On the Run

Life seems to enjoy throwing me through loops. I was born from a not so normal family in a not so normal world. But I suppose my idea of normal is different from others. I was born alone in Empire City which is next to Empire State. The city was large and never seemed to sleep. Filled with skyscrapers and taxis. Wherever you went you could always see someone. There was no such thing as a silence in this city. My life never started out happy, I was a forgotten child with no one, I suppose that's why the Matrons named me Suha.

I grew up in an orphanage and always felt different. I had medium brown skin color with a dark gray tint and dark eyes. I looked like a normal child, accept with one exception, I was born with a gemstone in my lower back. The gem was dark grey in color, maybe even black and was in the shape of a rectangle. This abnormality left most of the orphanage confused. I was ignored by most children and bullied by the rest. After many years of being ignored and bullied by my fellow orphans, for the first time there was a dark light that was radiating off my gem and it seemed as though everyone stopped looking at me.

I went to school and no one had spoken to me. This dark light was ignored by everyone at school, it was as though I had faded into the darkness. There were many times I wanted to run away from this orphanage, so many times, but whenever I did I was caught by the police or child services. I took a chance at recess and ran away from the school. No one seemed to notice as I walked on the streets of Empire City, police officers ignored me and I was able to walk back to the orphanage perfectly fine.

I stood where I could see my bedroom window and took a leap. I was blessed with super strength that I hid, fearing I was going to be experimented on by the government, yes I watched too many tv shows. I grabbed onto my window and pulled myself up. It was always unlocked and was the only room in the attic of the orphanage. I shared the room by myself. It was nothing special about it, a tiny bed filled with a little bit of clothes. I changed my clothes into a black overcoat that extended over my arms, a long dark grey scarf, a black hat, and gray leggings. I kept my all black shoes, the colors of my clothes weren't my decision, but the same colors given to all the orphans. Black fit with everything and gray was cheap. I took a leap off my window and landed on my feet, making a small crater where I stood. I was pretty durable as well.

I gave one last look at the building I spent my entire life at and continued on. I knew there was an old train that ran across the Delmarva Peninsula. All I had to do was stay there and not get caught. It took a few hours to reach the old train and due to my gem still glowing I was able to sneak inside. I closed my eyes and went to sleep.

By the time I woke up the train had stopped. I wasn't sure how long I had been asleep but I jumped out of the train for a little bit. I needed to stretch my legs. I was about to get back on the train when I saw two… people? Get off the train and start walking. The first person seemed to be a boy, he looked like he was ten to twelve years old, but I wasn't entirely sure. He was overall pretty short with a thick, stocky build. He had curly dark brown hair with matching eyebrows and full black irises. He wore a salmon-pink T-shirt with a gold star in the enter and cuffed blue jeans and the same salmon-pink flip-flop sandals.

The other.. Person.. was around the same height as the boy beside her. Her build was stout but her face was older than the boys. She looked in her late teens, early twenties. She had bright lilac skin, dark indigo eyes and thick, messy pale lavender hair that went down to her ankles. Her bang was large and it made it difficult to see her left eye. She had pump lips and an upturned nose. She wore a mauve, oversized, off-shoulder gray tank top with a black bra underneath. She also wore black leggings with star-shaped cutouts on the knees, with a tear above the left star and small, pointed, white boots.

The most interesting part about the two of them, that made her jump out of the train and follow them and a gem they had on their bodies. The purple one's gem was light purple and was centered in the middle of her chest where her heart would be. The boy was a little harder to see, a deep pink almost rose color and was located where his navel should be.

Suha kept a few yards away from them, just in case they turned around and noticed she was following them. The weird glowing from her Gem stopped for some reason. The moved towards what seemed to be a dead canyon.

"Here we are!" The purple one said happily, running forward with the boy behind laughed happily and raised her arms up. "Welcome to the Kindergarten! What do you think?!"

They looked forward. "Uh…. It's great!" The boy said looking at his friend.

"Sure is!" The woman said and grabbed her friend's arm, running forward.

The canyon was large with numerous holes in the shape of humans and were carved out of dark, dull purple rock faces. There were large machines that looked like the photos of viruses in science class. The bottom of the machines had one large drill surrounded by smaller ones. Thin, jointed appendages were located near the drills, like legs, while the upper structure had a large, red, gem-like ornament on the top. The body of the rig had a clear panel that looked like it contained organic hearts, or an artificial womb. These acts were attached to the head and feet of the machines, via red and blue tubes that resemble arteries and veins.

"What is this place?" The boy asked curiously.

The girl shrugged. "It's kind of where I'm from?"

"But… I thought Gems were from space?" The boy asked confused.

"Pearl and Garnet are but I was made here on Earth." She said. I started to be more and more confused as their conversation went on. Why was she purple, why do they have gems, who are Pearl and Garnet? What is this weird place…? "Like you!" She let out a loud gasp. "Check it out!"

They ran forward towards a large boulder. She laughed happily. "Aw man! I miss this guy! Aw! It's my climbing rock!"

"Eh… Hello!" The boy said happily. The girl pointed to different rocks.

"And over there… That's the sitting rock! And that was the one rock, I kicked into two rocks!" She climbed up the large boulder. I took a chance to hide in one of the large man shaped holes.

"Uh, how long did you live here?"

"For a while I guess… Until I met your mom and the others!" The girl leaned back and did a backflip, she landed back onto the ground. She laughed happily and ran forward. The boy moved forward but stopped, looking at the large virus-like machines.

"Whoa…. What is that thing?" He asked, walking closer to it with the purple girl. I walked forward and hide behind her 'climbing rock'.

"Eh… It's just some old Gem junk from a long time ago. It's probably busted by now." She explained. The boy stopped and looked up at the giant machine.

"Hey Steven!" The girl called and pointed at a hole around the same shape as her. She let out a happy laugh. "Look! Here's the hole I came out!"

'Steven' ran forward and looked at the hole. "Hang on… what?"

"It's. My. Hole!" She said as though it was obvious. "Hey look! It's me sized!" She dragged out the 'sized' and leaned down into the hole. Steven poked his head through."Forgot that good hole smell."

"You. Came out of. This. Whole." Steven stated.

"There is where I was made dude!" The girl said. "One day I just-" She made a popping sound with her mouth. "Right out of this hole!"

Steven took a step back looking at the thousands of other holes. "So… what about the other holes?"

There was a bright blue glow and a strange bell-like sound. I turned my head and saw a strange teal, crystalline platform on the ground. The top half resembles a brilliant-cut of a diamond. It seemed like it was made out of solid material. A strange person… or should I say Gem… faded into existence. This Gem had a slender, thin build, ivory skin, sky-blue eyes and a pointed nose. She had thin lips and was rather tall, or at least taller than the rest of them. Her hair was peach in color and looked like a pixie-cut in the front while the back lead up to a point. She had a white ovular gem in the middle of her forehead with no facets. She wore an aqua blue tunic with a small yellow star on the center of her chet and a lighter satin sash ribbon around her waist. Her leggings were amber colored and she wore pink socks with pale blue slip-on ballet flats. She looked between her mid twenties to maybe even forties. Though none of them had wrinkles.

"There you are!" The other mystery woman said and looked around at the Kindergarten nervously. She jumped down from the pad and landed skillfully on the ground. The purple woman pulled herself out of her hole.

"Great… here comes the fun police." She said, her mood taking a one eighty.

"Garnet said you'd be here but I didn't want to believe it." I guessed she was Pearl said, walking forward. Steven ran over to Pearl and stood beside her. "Amethyst, what were you thinking bringing Steven to… a Kindergarten."

"I don't know… we were in the neighborhood." Amethyst said and kicked a rock childlessly. Her body was in a defensive state while Pearl was in a stiff one.

"Pearl." Steven said making her look at him. "Was Amethyst really made here?"

Pearl paused for a moment and stared at Amethyst angrily. "How much did you tell him?!"

"What?" Amethyst said looking at Pearl with a strange expression. "You mean, about the bad thing?" She looked around at her home. "How this bad place was used by bad gems to grow more bad Gems?" She accented the 'bad'. "Is that what you're talking about?!"

"They grew other Gems here?!" Steven asked confused.

"Amethyst! He's not ready!" Pearl said angrily. I couldn't help but feel guilt I ever got off the train.

Amethyst walked forward, her voice dripping with sarcasm. "Oh! But don't worry Steven! EVerything's just fine now!"

"Amethyst!" Pearl warned, her temper rising but Amethyst only moved closer.

"But it all worked out! We won!"

"Stop..."

"And we shut this place down-"

"Stop."

"So the Earth would be safe from parasites like me!" Amethyst said angrily with a wife smile on her face. Pearl moved towards Steven and placed her hand in front of Amethyst.

"Amethyst! That's enough!" PEarl said and placed herself in front of Steven, as though she was protecting him. Amethyst pouted angrily and walked away.

"Pearl?" Steven said nervously, grabbing her arm. Pearl crouched down, placing her hands on Steven's shoulders.

"Steven I'm sorry. I never wanted you to see this horrible place!" Pearl said.

"Then why don't you just leave!" Amethyst yelled angrily and her gem, which I guessed was an Amethyst as well, glowed purple and out of her Gem came a whip. The whip was multi-tale dark violet and had one tail. It had a cross-guard in the form of a lavender star. The lash was dark purple and was divided into three different segments with spiked balls on the ends. There were multiple shards embedded in the main lash and had a purple amethyst pommel and a purplish gray handel. The whip circled itself around Pearl and with a simple tug she was sent flying into the virus machine. There was a loud metallic sound that came from the impact and Pearl fell to the ground.

"Admit it!" Amethyst said and twisted her body, allowing the whip to follow her and head towards Pearl. "I'm just an embarrassment to you!" Pearl rolled over, doing the whip and landed with a knee on the ground. The whip cut through the metal machine's leg.

"Amethyst!" Steven said and grabbed onto her but she lifted him up into the sky. "Wait!" And threw him on the ground a few yards away from them. Steven landed on his feed but the impact made his body flip over and he landed on his stomach. It didn't seem that it hurt that much, which meant Amethyst didn't really want to hurt Steven.

Pearl hovered her hand near her gem and it glowed white in color. A white spear came got of her gem. It was a glowing blade with a white grip and a cyan, gold and white pommel shaped like a star. The head of the blade spiraled down the upper shaft becoming less sharp on the lower shaft. It was a few heads longer than Garnet was.

"I don't want to fight you!"

"I wouldn't want to fight me neither!" Amethyst said angrily and rolled her body and whip into a ball like Sonic. She raced forward towards Pearl but she dodged her. Pearl aimed her spear towards Amethyst and it shot out white dodged all of them skillfully and jumped into the sky. Once she was about fifty meters into the sky she released herself and aimed her whip down to the ground at Pearl. Peal stepped onto the whip and sliced it.

"You guys! Stop it!" Steven yelled and ran forward. Amethyst landed back onto the ground on her hands and knees. She turned her body towards Steven, aiming her whip towards him.

"Stay out of it!" She yelled and released her whip. It twirled around and landed onto Steven's knees, making him fall forward. Pearl jumped forward towards Amethyst, her food aiming towards her head. But she ducked and did a round off. Pearl landed gracefully, her face calm while Amethyst glared at her and took out another whip from her gem. Amethyst tried three ties to hit Pearl with her whip but Pearl dodged them effortlessly with her eyes closed. Pearl kicked Amethyst sending her to the ground.

Amethyst landed once again on her hands and knees, taking a deep breath.

Pearl twirled her spear. "Amethyst! Stop this! You can't beat me!"

"I. Don't. Care!" She yelled angrily and took out two whips with two tails each. Steven stood up and watched as the tails of the whip latched onto Pearl's spear. "I'm not going to stand there and watch you remind me of everything I hate about myself!" She lifted the handles of the whips up sending a violet wave towards Pearl. There was a large explosion and Pearl went flying. Smacking into the large machine and falling to the ground in pain.

"I never asked for it to be this way!" Amethyst said, a mixture of anger and sadness, large tears forming in her eyes as Pearl stared at her. "I never asked to be made!"

"Amethyst…" Pearl said looking up at her sadly.

"Amethyst!" Steven said, tears rolling down his eyes. He ran forward and stood protectly over Pearl, like she did for him. "Please! No more! I know you're upset… but I can't bare to watch you two hurt each other!"

The leg of the machine broke due to Pearl's impact and it fell towards Amethyst. Steven formed a pink bubble around his friends but Amethyst backed away.

"AMETHYST!" Steven yelled as he and Pearl looked on in horror. He continued to yell his name as she ran away from both them and the machine. The machine broke under Steven's bubble and he ran forward looking for her. "Where are you?!"

Steven looked over to where a large rock was blocking Amethyst's hole. He pushed it away and called her name again.

"Go away!"She said. "I'm bad and you shouldn't be around me!"

"What?! That's ridiculous!" Steven said. "Look. I don't know what any of this really means but... I-"

"Yeah you don't." Amethyst said bitterly. "Cause if you did, you won't want to talk to me."

"Pearl. Get in here. You gotta help me." Steven said looking at her.

"But-" Pearl said and Steven pointed at her.

"You have to talk to her."

Pearl crouched down on her toes and went inside the hole.

"Amethyst?"Pearl asked. "Amethyst, I had no idea you've been upset about this."

"What?!" Amethyst yelled angrily and glared at her. "You had no idea?! This is like- my entire existence! You want to pretend like this never happened! You think I'm just a big mistake!" She grabbed her head in anger as more tears rushed down her face.

Pearl gasped. "No, no, Amethyst. You're not a mistake. You're just a byproduct-" She blushed blue, releasing what she said. "Of a big mistake."

"Wow she sucks at this." I whispered as Amethyst glared at her.

"No, that's not-" She let out a small sigh. "I just never thought of this- as you. None of this is your fault! You didn't build this place! I- I'm sorry Amethyst." Tears formed in her eyes. "I hope you can forgive me. You're the one good thing that came out of this mess. I always thought you were proud of that." She put stretched out her hand towards her and Steven backed away with a smile on his face.

Both Amethyst and Pearl came out. Amethyst's hair was covering her face so she looked over towards Pearl, a tear in her eye and hugged her. Pearl blushed shocked but put her arms around her. Once they released each other they held hands together. Steven, Pearl and Amethyst walked towards the pad.

I realized that if I didn't speak to them, there would be no way for me to know about myself or my parents. I felt my heart race through my chest as they stepped onto the pad.

"Crystal Gems forever!" Steven yelled.

"Wait!" I yelled and all of them froze.

"What was that?" Pearl asked scared.

"There's no way someone is here!" Amethyst yelled. "I'm the only one! It's been too long!"

"Where are you?!" Steven yelled and I blushed behind the rock. What am I doing, I can't… they'll know I've been following them. I collapsed down on the sitting rock and felt my heart beat even faster in my chest. I can't do this. They'll hate me… just like everyone else did… But.. I heard them land onto the ground.

"Hello?!" Steven yelled and looked around. I covered my face with my hands and said nothing.

"We won't hurt you!" Pearl yelled. I heard the bell-sound that same from the pad and all of them yelled.

"Garnet!" They walked over towards 'Garnet'. I looked over and blushed. There was a tall woman. She had two gemstones embedded in the palms of her hands and a black cube-shaped afro and maroon-brownish colored skin. She wore a triangular futuristic, translucent orange-tinted shaded, which covered her eyes. She wore a black and crimson bodysuit, with cubic shoulder pads )the right one magenta and he left one crimson), and a pink star with a magenta outline on her chest. She also wore long, elbow-length black gloves that covered her middle fingers. She prominent lips, thin arms, large thighs and a very thin waist, as though she was wearing a corset.

I would have mistaken her for humans, she looked the most human out of all of them. I crouched down again, making myself into a little ball.

"There might be another Gem here!" Steven yells excited. "We heard a voice, but she won't say anything! You know where she is, don't you?!"

Garnet said nothing and I heard someone land near the sitting rock. "Found you." The other three rushed over and looked at me. I looked over at them nervously.

"She's a Gem!" Pearl yelled. Steven stretched his hand towards me.

"No she looks more human to me! What are you doing here?" Steven asked, giving me a big smile. I looked at his hand nervously and took it.

'She doesn't look a lot like a Gem, but maybe she's like me!' I heard Steven say but his mouth didn't move. That was something that always happens whenever I touched someone, their thoughts I can hear them. I suppose I look much like a Gem, but he didn't. If anything, I looked at them, they looked a little human. They waited for me to say something but I kept silent. I released Steven's hand.

"Strong and silent type huh?" Steven asked and laughed. "Just like Garnet!"

"But this doesn't make any sense." Pearl said nervously. "No humans have ever found this place."

"First for everything," Amethyst said, I noticed I was about a foot taller than both her and Steven, but still much shorter than Garnet and Pearl. "Still not gonna speak even though we caught you?"

I took a nervous deep breath and looked at Steven. "You don't look like a Gem." I said quietly.

"That's cause I'm half!" He said proudly. "My mom gave up her physical form so I could exist! I have a human dad too!"

I gave him a confused look. "What does that even mean?"

He scratched his head. "It's hard to explain!" He laughed and all of a sudden he had stars in his eyes. He looked over at the rest of his… friends…family..? "Maybe she's like me!"

"That's impossible!" Pearl said. "After all, we're the only Gems on Earth!"

"What about Lapis?" Steven asked and she gave him a look.

"She's older than you are Steven, Lapis has only been here for a little bit."

"But that would be sooo cool." Amethyst said looking at Steven. "Another half Gem like Steven!"

"I just thought it would be nice." Steven said looking down. Pearl starts making an explanation as to how I was able to be in the Kindergarten. I was going to how them my Gem, but I might as well wait until they're done.

"Our new friend has something to show us." Garnet said and all of them stare at her.

"Well… I mean…" I trail off nervously, not used to the attention. I turn my back to them and lift up my black overcoat. All of them gasp and Garnet places a hand on my head.

'A new Gem, this timeline is much different than I expected.`` Garnet thought 'After the many Stevens incident, it seems like timelines I didn't expect are coming true.'

"Let's go back home." Garnet says. "I'm sure she'll explain more at the temple."

'I don't recognize her Gem. Maybe she's a rare Gem or perhaps a newer one than Amethyst'

"Wait don't you have a family?" Steven asks and I say nothing in return.

'I knew she wasn't going to say anything.' Garnet thought. 'But maybe once she becomes closer to Steven…' Garnet picked me up, making me flinch and jumped into the air. I held my scream as we landed onto the pad. Pearl grabbed Steven and did the same thing as Garnet. Amethyst jumped onto the pad by herself. There was a bright light and we landed in a completely different area. Garnet placed me down as Steven grabbed my hand and gave me a tour.

"That was your first time on a Warp Pad right?!" Steven said happily. 'I'm not the only one!' "This is the Temple Gate!" He pointed at the door that was directly behind the Warp Pad. Gems were arranged within a star-shaped symbol, with the top point containing Steven's gem, the upper left Amethyst, upper right Pearl, lower left and right must be the two gems on Garnet's hand. Around the door was a beautiful multicolored glass-like walls that reminded me of an underground cavern, the outline of the walls were a dark purple color, the same as half of the floor.

The rest of the house was modest, with one large interior room and an upper level. The upper level seemed to be Steven's bedroom while the main interior was a lounge with a fireplace and kitchen/bar. The bathroom was on the back left side, past the fireplace, it was built directly below the upper level. Steven's room was slightly messy, with dishes and clothes scattered all over the wooden floor. He had a legless wooden bed with a white comforter, TV set and gaming console on the floor, nightstand, dresser, circular rug, as well as different merchandise and miscellaneous items. There was a large window that took up about a third of the wall running beside the loft, and the loft could be reached by a staircase inside the house.

Steven had a Nintendo 64 and Nintendo GameCube. There was a green Nintendo Game Boy Color above his bed. There was a Sailor Moon manga on the shelf of his nightstand and a Cookie Cat alarm clock. There was also adhesive star stickers stuck to the wall for decoration.

The bathroom had a red sink, shower with a red curtain and many yellow stars like Steven's shirt, a bathtub mirror, toilet and a red rug. The room had a citrus scent to it.

The most interesting part of the inside of the house was a giant photo of a beautiful woman. She seemed tall with a heavier build than all of the other Gem. She had bright-peach colored skin, defined lips with a pale pink color and very long, curly pink hair styled in thick, tube-like ringlets. Her gem was located on her stomach with a star cut out of her shirt. THe gem seemed the same color as Steven's and her eyes were closed. Steven must have read my face because he explained that she was his mother. I felt jealousy but pushed it down trying to forget about it.

Outside was a balcony/deck that had some seating and an umbrella. The house was surrounded by a beautiful and luscious beach. "Do you have any Gem powers?" Steven asks me and my face most have looked confused because he started explaining some of the powers that he, or his mom, has. He explained that apparently he can change his age with his emotions, he told me he was 13 years old, he doesn't like shapeshifting but he can do it, he's pretty strong, durable, he can summon a shield, he can heal with his saliva (which I thought was gross), he can grow and control pant life and can make a bubble shield.

"I can show you one pretty easily." I said and held out my hand. He looked confused but grabbed it.

``what's supposed to happen?' Steven asked. 'I wonder if her powers are different than mine since we don't have the same Gem. I guess that makes a lot of sense. I wonder how old she is, she's about as tall as Connie. How old is Connie anyway? Nothing's happening…'

My gem glowed a dark grey color which made my skin glow slightly. 'Well I'm turning fourteen soon. I don't know who Connie is but she sounds pretty cool.'

"Woah!" Steven yelled and his eyes turned into stars. "I can hear you in my head! That's amazing!"

"It's not that cool." I said. "My name is Suha by the way and I can hear anyone's thoughts when touching them. I think I'm stronger than most humans, pretty fast and pretty durable. I don't know what some of your powers mean."

"Wait what am I thinking?!" Steven yelled and focused on his hand.

"This is so awesome!" I said the same time as Steven thought it. "Wait! Is she- woah! Awesome!"

I gave him a small smile and released my hand from his. We went back inside and I noticed that the Gems made the couch into a bed with red and black bedding while we were talking outside. Pearl and Garnet were having a quiet conversation near the Warp Pad while Amethyst was eating a mountain of pancakes with whipped cream, chocolate sauce and popcorn with strawberries on top.

"What are you doing?" I asked confused.

"It's getting late and we can't let you just sleep on the ground!" Steven said. "Hope you don't mind using the couch as a bed."

"No I don't but- you don't have to do this." I said to Steven. Steven smiled happily and went up to his bed and tossed a pink pillow down.

"No problem!" He said happily. I looked over at the full-Gems and noticed that they went to the door with the star. The doors lit up.

"Goodnight Steven." Pearl said nervously as Amethyst and Garnet led her away from the room and into the door. I leaned down on the couch-bed and before I knew it I had closed my eyes.


	2. (2) Marble Madness

That was how I started living with Steven and the Crystal Gems. Over the course of a few months I was introduced to Beach City citizens. Whenever Connie and Greg came over to the Beach House I would leave the house and climb up to the top of the Cliff. I wasn't allowed on a Gem mission yet but I'm sure they would allow me to soon. Amethyst was alright to be around but her hyper energy made it difficult for me to speak to her. Pearl seemed to avoid me for reasons I wasn't sure of, she didn't seem to trust me and kept looking at my Gem. It was as though she was trying to discover a puzzle. I had once tried to ask her if she knew who my… mother… I guess was but she told me she wasn't sure but guessed my gem was a Serendibite.

Apparently Serendibite were created on Homeworld as an upgrade to the Quartz Warriors, they were sent to Earth to test them on Crystal Gems. They were unique gems and there weren't many of them created. They didn't have much physical abilities. I thanked her and she frowned. Garnet was nice to be around and I enjoyed her energy the most. I asked her about the two gems on her palm and she took off her shades showing three eyes, one purple, one red and one blue, She gave me a wide smile and winked saying "You'll find out soon."

"Garnet…" I wined and pat my head, I gave her a smile. A few days later my birthday came and past. Garnet was able to guess it was my birthday and they gave me a nice and quiet celebration. I gave all of them, even Pearl, a hug and thanked them. It was the first time I ever had a real birthday and I even had presents. Steven, with the help of Connie who I still avoided, had given me adventure books. Amethyst bought pepperoni pizza ad gave me a coupon for ten free pizzas. Garnet agreed to give me fighting lessons and gave me black shades like hers that were gray.

Pearl had given me some new clothes that apparently she made herself, they a variety of clothes that all had stars on them. She awkwardly patted my shoulders and said. "You're officially a Crystal Gem." She gave me a small smile as I blushed and gave her a wide smile. All of them gave me a hug and it was the first time I felt so happy in my entire life. The rest of the day went by and Steven dragged me to meet Connie Maheswaran.

Connie was a pretty girl with dark brown skin and a slim figure. She was slightly taller than Steven and had a prominent nose, black eyes with thick eyebrows, and dark brown puffy hair. Her hair went down to her waist. She was wearing a red sideways with matching red shoes. She wore a light yellow shirt with blueish-gray overalls and carried a bag of that was multiple shades of brown and carried mangent glasses with empty frames. I knew that Steven used his healing powers to fix Connie's eyesight on accident.

Before I met Connie I put on the clothes that Pearl made. I wore a dark red short sleeve shirt with a black star on it and black jeans. All of my shirts and dresses had a hole for my gem. I wore the same black shoes that I came with from the Orphanage. Connie smiled at me and introduced herself happily. It went well and they invited me to go to the beach. I decline politely and took a seat near the umbrella outside the house. Steven and Connie went down and sat down on the sand. I took a deep breath and closed my eyes. The ground rumbled lightly but I ignored it. There was a high sound that zoomed by my ears and there was a loud explosion. I opened my eyes as the Gems came outside.

"What was that?!" Amethyst yelled. I ran over to where they were and watched as a around green ball rolled out of the water near Connie and Steven. The ball grew legs and stood up. Garnet jumped down from the balcony and landed where the robot was.

"Amethyst! Pearl!" Garnet yelled as she stood the robot ball from walking over towards Steven and Connie. The two Gems did the same thing as Garnet and aimed their feet on the marble. There was a large exploitation as I ran down to meet up with the rest of the Crystal Gems. Steven had Connie in his bubble shield.

"What was that?!" I yelled.

"One of Peridot's machines." Pearl said as Steven released his shield. "Only we've never seen one this big before."

"Or this gooey." Amethyst said as she walked over covered in cyan liquid.

"Amethyst we need to be careful. We don't know what this stuff is." Pearl said and Amethyst began to laugh and learn towards Pearl. "Oh no. Don't you dare get that stuff on me!"

"Gooey hug!" Pearl ran as Amethyst followed her around.

"Peridot…" Connie said and looked over to Steven. "Is that the Gem you told me about? The one that's trying to come to Earth?"

"Yeah we stopped her before, but I guess she can still shoot stuff from space." Steven said and the two of us walked over to Garnet who was crouching near the broken pieces. "So what do you think it was here to do?"

"We destroyed it." Garnet said, standing up. "That's all that matters." Steven nodded but I frowned. I was going to ask a question but Amethyst ran over and hugged Garnet.

"Gooey hug!" Amethyst said happily. Pearl walked over and Garnet grabbed her and gave her a hug.

"But…" I said quietly as the Gems released each other. Garnet placed a hand on my head and I stopped. Garnet's the boss. I frowned and looked up at her as Connie gave Steven a bunch of books. "Garnet…" She didn't say anything and everyone went back inside.  
"It's alright Suha!" Steven said. "Everything will be fine!" I didn't say anything in return and Steven passed me the books I recently received. "Maybe this well help you take your mind off it,"

"Fine…" I said frowning as the two of us took a seat on the couch. The Gems went through the Temple Gate door and I started reading. A few hours passed and Steven was talking to Connie on the phone.

"There's an order?!" Steven said shocked and there was a tremor and the two of us flipped over.

"Again?" I groaned and the Gems reappeared.

"Something entered the atmosphere!" Garnet said.

"It's probably thar robot ball thing again." I said and followed them as they ran outside.

"It landed on Mask Island!" Garnet said and we took the Warp Pad to the Island. The island was large with a giant waterfall, multiple lakes, a beach, and many trees. There were multiple crystal clusters and geodes. The robot was climbing over the place and walked over towards the Warp Pad.  
"Is it looking for a Warp?!" Pearl asked.

"We have to stop it!" Garnet yelled and the three of them destroyed it again.

"Geez." Steven said as he released the bubble shield. "What are these things trying to do?"

"We're not sure." Pearl said nervously. "We're really not sure…"

"It's not trying to do anything now." Garnet said. Steven and I gave each other a look. This kept happening throughout the entire week. By the time the fifth ball game I had already read all of the collection Connie had given Steven. The Gems still didn't tell us anything, no matter how many times we asked.

"We'll find it in the dessert!" Garnet said and we hopped up.

"Wait guys!" Steven and I yelled. "Wait for us!" But they had already left so we activated the Warps ourselves. All you had to do was to picture the place you were going, since the Gems knew where most of the Warps were, all we had to do was picture falling into the dessert near the Gems.

"STOP! COMING! HERE! YOU! STUPID! BALLS!" Pearl yelled hitting the bottom of her spear on the ball while she said on top of it. Garnet was holding the front of it with her back, making it unable to move while Amethyst used her whips and wrapped them around it holding it from behind.

"Yeah Pearl!" Amethyst yelled. "Go crazy!"  
"Wait guys!" Steven yelled. "Stop!" They did. "How many more of these things are you going to have to fight?!"

"Why don't we just follow the stupid thing and see where it goes!" I yelled angrily. "This is ridiculous! You kill it and another one keeps coming back! Use your heads!"

"Are you nuts?!" Amethyst yelled.

"Who knows what could go wrong?!" Pearl yelled.  
"We can't fight these things forever." Garnet said. "Well we can… but I don't want to. Let's do it Suha's way."

"Yeah!" Steven yelled and gave me a high five which I happily returned. Ever since living with the Gens I found myself growing closer to Steven, he was probably one of the only friends I ever had."Let's follow the funky flow!" Even if he was weird.

Amethyst, Steven and I sat on top of the ball as the whips retracted and Garnet jumped on. "Alright big guy! Mush!" The ball wobbled forward and went onto the Warp Pad. Next thing we knew, we were back at the Kindergarten. The Gems gasped.

"The Kindergarten." Garnet whispered.

"Why here?" Pearl asked. "This site has been damaged enough by the Gems that were incubated here 6,000 years ago." She started getting more anxious with each word. "That's it! It's been confirmed! This thing is up to no good-" She started taking out her spear.

"Wait!" Steven yelled waving his hands. "We don't even know what it's doing here! Can't we just… see where it wants to go?!"

Pearl paused. "Garnet?!"

Garnet hemmed for a second. "Steven's way." Pearl groaned and retracted her spear into her Gem. The ball jumped down and landed gracefully on the ground using its legs like a helicopter propeller, reducing the impact of the fall.

"What does it want here?" Pearl asked.

"Maybe it just wants to see where Amethyst was made?" Steven suggested.

"Maybe it should mind its own business…" Amethyst said looking ashamed.

"I don't like this at all…" Pearl said nervously.

"But…"

"I'm kind of with Pearl on this one."

"Aw… come on!"

"Well… we don't have much of a choice." I said angrily. "What else can we do?"

All of a sudden it stopped.

"Why'd you stop little buddy?" Steven asked. Garnet moved her arms to grab everyone but missed me. The ball pushed me up into the air, turned into a.. Swirl and then into an upside down pyramid. and landed onto the ground. I fell down on top of it and just as the Gems went to run over to get me, I felt myself fall. I screamed for a split second until I saw large green pipes running across the walls like veins. I felt the Gems land on the Warp Pad and Steven helped me up. We descended down into the earth until reaching a large, green hexagonal shape. THe back wall had what looked to be a large green gemstone. A green pedestal came up from the ground and it sat in the center of the room. It had a Yellow Diamond on the palm and the edges of the room glowed green.

I felt my curiously get to me and walk forward.  
"Wait!" Pearl yelled as I walked closer. The giant ball turned elevator made a tinier ball version of itself that walked up the walls near the pedestal. I followed the tiny ball as it made itself into a hand and landed onto it. The room glowed bright neon yellow, tinted green. The screens in the room turned on and it showed what seemed to be a Gem. She, since all the Gems seemed to go with female pronuns though they didn't have a sex since they were just rocks, had lime green skin and pale charteuse yellow hair styled in a tetrahedron shape. Her eyes seemed to be a shade a green or blue but due to her visor were tinted in a dark yellow color. Her mouth and tongue were bluish gray and she had a pointed upper lip. Her gemstone was on her forehead. From what I saw she wore a sleeveless green V-neck outfit that was mostly medium green.

She looked around and I heard the Gems take Steven and hide.

"Established Gem protection link with Control Room." Mystery Gem said and looked down confused. Her fingers turned into a diamond shaped screen. "A new Gem? I didn't receive an update that a new Gem was created after the war… After-What are you? You seem to be like a Serendibite… but unless there was an update with their output form... " She sighed. "Where is your Gem located?"

Too nervous to speak I turned around and lifted my hair, showing her my Gem. She had a confused look on her face but sighed. "Unknown Gem spotted within the Prime Kindergarten Control Panel. Properties and Appearance are overall similar to Serendipity but the Gem does not match. Plug Robonoids has successfully landed on planet Earth and entered Prime Kindergarten Control Room in Facet 5. We'll see it's perform status' check of Kindergarten." The screen turned around and blurred.

"Steven!" I heard and angry whisper and noticed the Gems hidden. Steven leaped up and walked beside me. The ground glowed a neon cyan color and large hands appeared moving around the room.

"Now accounting for all operational injectors. Checking for abarations in perimeter. This Gem tech is simply archaic." The Gem said.  
"I don't know… I think it looks pretty cool." Steven said and I covered his mouth. The Gem's face returned and looked at Steven with the palms facing us.

"Hi. I'm Steven." He introduced.

"There appears to be an infestation of, Stevens, in the Kindergarten." She said.

"I'm not so bad once you get to know me." He said.

"And how many more Stevens are present in this area?"

"Oh, just me."

"Ah, that's a relief. So tell me, have Stevens replaced humans as the dominant species on Earth?"

"Oh no, there's lots of humans." Steven said. "There's my dad, Lars and Sadie, the Mailman, Onion… I think, lots of people! She's a human too, well half-human anyway."

"Steven!" I whispered angrily but he kept on talking.

"I see."

"Now I get to ask a question!" Steven said. "What are you doing?"

She sighed. "Let's pick up where we left off." One large fist came down aiming for Steven. Garnet jumped in front and pushed it away.

"A Gem!" The Gem said in fear. Pearl and Amethyst also landed beside them. "More Gems! But the red eye didn't locate any Gems on this planet?!"

"That's because we destroyed it!" Pearl said angrily.

"You what?! But the records say that the Gems were wiped out on Earth! Wait a minute! You're the ones who've been destroying my Robonoids! You're the reason the homeworld Warp is down again?! Is this your desare icon?!" She showed a crying Pancake, it must be from the Crying Breakfast Friends. "Why do you keep destroying my things?!"

"Because we are the Crystal Gems!"

"Pearl… Not deescalating the tension!" I whispered in fear, looking at the giant fists raised in the air by a Gem that wasn't even here. She ignored me.

"We're still alive and we're still the guardians of this planet and all it's living creatures!" Pearl yelled aiming her spear at the screen.

"The Crystal… Gems?" The Gem asked confused and the trio jumped forward trying to destroy the control room. "How dare you?! I'm doing this one way or another! You're just making it more difficult!"

"Amethyst now!" Garnet yelled and Amethyst twisted her whip around the only remaining giant fist and aimed it at the core.

"I'M REPORTING THIS!" THe gem yelled and it went dark.

"Is it over?" Amethyst asked nervously. All of their eyes went to us and walked over glaring.

"Okay… I might've gone a little too far this time…" Steven said ashamed.

"Well Steven we did learn something new because of this decision." Garnet said, but I knew she wasn't done.

"Alright!"

"But this was a pretty bad idea."

"Aw man…" I felt eyes on me but continued to look to the ground, ashamed. I felt a hand on my head as we walked back.

'I'm very disappointed in you.' I heard Garnet's voice and I felt fears fall down my face. Fear was rushing through my head and I knew that it was done. They'll send me back to the orphanage, I was so stupid. But… it was the first time I felt a connection other than the Gems with my past… 'You do realize I can hear your thoughts.'

I jumped and felt heat raise to my cheeks embarrassed.

'Well we're not kicking you out. I might not understand much about you, but I know that Steven and I realize that curiosity can get the best of even the calmest of us. You're on probation, I'm sure Pearl doesn't feel very comfortable with you coming on missions if you'll act just as reckless as Steven and put yourself in danger. You're not allowed back until you can gain that trust back. Steven has been on many missions and although he does happen to make mistakes, he has shown how important his abilities are. You have not."

"Okay…." I whispered and noticed we were already back on the Warp Pad. I looked over at Peal who was in thought until she saw my eyes. "I'm sorry."

"Me too." Steven said and took my hand and gave me a brave smile.

"I'm just happy neither of you are hurt." Pearl said and we warped back.

"I know I shouldn't ask but… do you know what kind of Gem she was? I just…" I trailed off. The door to Temple Gate opened.

"Peridot. Her name is Peridot."


	3. (3) The Message

Another week passed and I was still not allowed to go on missions. I suppose it made sense but I couldn't help but feel lonely whenever everyone was gone. Unlike Steven I didn't have any friends outside of this house… or any family. I never had a Dad or Mom, I never had anyone. All those that used to be around me had no choice, whether that be school or at the orphanage. Whenever kids sat by me, it was as though I didn't exist. My very being didn't live and I was forgotten. I'm sure that they don't even realize I'm missing. Most of my days were spent on the beach, with the hot sun radiating off my body.

Of course there were instances of interesting moments within the Beach House but I hadn't helped in the accomplishment. Sometimes I think about going down to Beach City and meeting people, seeing if there were any kids my age I could talk to… but the fear of rejection continued to grow within me. I still ignored Steven's dad whenever he came, with the same fear of rejection I felt even stronger with the feeling of parents. Amethyst didn't seem to know what do you with me and although she tried to cheer me up, it was to no avail. Pearl was even stiffer around me and I'm sure it must have been because of that Gem Peridot, confirming I'm not a Serendibite but something strange. I knew I was half human, that's one thing I was certain about. But all of my identity was hidden.

There have been different moments that caused me to question my understanding of the Gems. One would be when they returned from one of the Gem battlefields with Rose, Steven's mother, scabbard. Pearl showed her addiction with Steven's mother, her deep love that I couldn't help but understand. Secrets that Pearl never knew about Rose continued to seem to grow. Steven knew about Rose's underground cave filled with weapons, he knew where his mother's sword was and was able to access Lion's mane which had different items of Rose's.

Pearl's feelings towards Rose only seem to distant herself from Amethyst and Garnet. Amethyst seemed to view Rose as a mother figure in her life while Garnet viewed her as a close friend maybe something even stronger. Pearl's feelings also seemed to conflict with Steven as well. She confused Steven as Rose and even wondered about any memories that Steven had of Rose before she created Steven. I made me wonder many things about myself as well. Steven told me how Pearl would reenact moments she had with Rose with Holo Pearl. Steven often told me everything about his life, because he felt I was the only one who could sort of understand. All of the conflicting emotions he felt about his mother he shared with me.

I felt very much like a confidant when Steven would tell me about how he first summoned his shield, how his Dad wants to show the Gems that he is able to be of us to, how he accidentally destroyed the Lunar Sea Spire because of his mistake, the different rooms in the Temple, the different citizens of Beach City, his fear of shape shifting, the first time he met Connie, Tiger Millionaire, the fusion of Amethyst and Pearl known as Opal, how the Gems are thousands of years old and how he almost aged himself to much.

The room in the Temple that he often felt conflicted with, Sugilite, killing the Steven from the first universe, healing Amethyst's gemstone, Lapis and her need to leave Earth, his Dad lying to him about his broken leg so he could spend time with his son, the Gems fusion Alexandrite, his new creation the Watermelon Stevens, Garnet's future vision, the video that his mother made for him his fusion with Connie known as Stevonnie and the Gems lying about a test they made for Steven.

Jealousy always seemed to remain when I was with Steven but I tried to hide it as much as I could. I just couldn't believe that although we were so similar… we had such different lives. Sometimes there would be days when his mother's room with Connie for hours but for them it felt like minutes. Steven had a parent who told him stories about his other parents.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" Steven asked confused. I looked up at him and put on a smile.

"Nothing, sometimes I space out you know." I said, not wanting to speak about my feelings.

"My dad's coming tonight, we're going to rock on and eat pizza!" Steven said. "You should come!"

"Maybe next time." I muttered.

"But you always say that!" Steven says. "Come on! He's a really nice person! You're friends with me so you'll definitely like my dad! We act a lot alike, plus he's an awesome musician!"

"I said no Steven!" I yelled without thinking. "Why can't you understand?! I don't want to meet your stupid Dad!" A black light shot from me and a ray hit Steven and falls gently to the ground "Oh my god! Steven!" The light disappeared and Steven's body looked as though he was in a deep sleep. "Steven? Please! I'm sorry! Please wake up!"

I grabbed him and hugged him. "I'm sorry… I'm sorry…" Dark crescents floated up into the air and the light in the room grew darker, the shadows were growing even more dominant but I continued to apologize. I checked his gem to see if I accidentally cracked it, the moment I touched the gem I felt myself collapse to the ground.

'Why don't you listen?' I heard a calm and soothing voice ask. 'Please, I just… I'm worried… Can't I be worried about you… I know… I know… I'm sorry… But…'

An extremely loud noise woke me up. I saw the Gems surrounding an object Garnet washolding. A brown and gold stone with a button on top and a hole in the top third of it. Amethyst was covering her ears.  
"What's happening?!" Steven yelled as he came through the front door. I could see that it was already nighttime.

"It's the Wailing Stone!" Pearl yelled.

"Make it stop!" Amethyst yelled.  
"It just activated on it's own!"

"It won't shut up!"

Garnet placed the Wailing Stone down on the ground and put her fist on top of the button. It stopped making the sound but the moment Garnet released her fist, it came back much louder. Pearl walked over and told everyone to stand back. She bubbled it but the bubble expanded and popped. Steven walked over still covering his ears and placed his arm through the hole. But the sound came through his mouth in a wail. Garnet quickly took Steven's arm away and put all of the couch's pillows around the object and in the hole then placed Steven and I on top of the pillows.

"You don't understand. That thing's been dormant since we found it." Garnet said walking away from us.

"I haven't heard a Wailing Stone since we used them for the rebellion and I've never heard it sound like that." Pearl said pointing to it.

"Someone is trying to send us a message." Garnet decided.

"But who?! We rounded up all the Wailing Stones on Earth and we're not sending this signal to ourselves! Unless.." Garnet and Pearl looked at Amethyst. "Amethyst! Is this a prank?!"

"No way! I want it to stop! I don't like it!" Amethyst yelled angrily putting her hands through her hair. Steven hopped off the Wailing Stone and walked over to the rest of the group.

"If it's not coming from Earth than a Gem must be sending this message from space." Garnet said.

"Is that… what some Gems sound like?" Steven asked.

"No. No. We should be hearing a voice. Maybe the signal is too advanced for the Wailing Stone to process? That would explain the distorted audio." Pearl said.

"Audio? My Dadio knows Audio!" Steven said happily.

"You mean Greg?" Amethyst asked.

"Yeah!"

"I don't know…" Pearl whined.

"Don't whine. Let's try it!" Garnet said and they walked out the door. Steven looked over to me.

"Aren't you coming?" Steven asked.

"Don't you remember what happened…?" I asked.

"Remember what?" Steven asked. "You know you shouldn't sleep on the floor." I didn't say anything in return but got up from my seat and followed the group. After what I did to Steven, I couldn't help but swallow my pride and finally meet his father. By the time I walked down to Greg's van, they had already explained what happened. Greg placed down some cushions for everyone to sit down on. It went in this order from left to right: Pearl, Garnet, Amethyst, Steven and me. Greg was placing some of his audio equipment out as we watched.  
"I can't believe it! You need help with sound stuff?! You've come to the right guy!" Greg said happily, eager to help. "Aha! Lubitz Cardioid Condenser 680! It got warm tones without too much top-end." It was an ordinary microphone with a light blue handle but it had a large, pale pink foam microphone cover.

"Plus it's got a big honk and sponge thing." Amethyst said.

"I know! Isn't it awesome?!" Greg said happily and took the pillow out of the hole and placed the microphone cover inside. "I'm also adding some reverb and low octive effects. I'm also adding some fuzz because who couldn't use more fuzz? Now if I directly input the Wailing Stone and run it through a flanger, we might get what you're looking for."

"Flangers aside, do you really think a signal like this is compatible with your analog devices?" Pearl asked with a hint of superiority in her voice.

"Don't worry Dad!" Steven said picking a microphone. "It'll work."

"Welp, here goes nothing?" Greg said and turned on the keyboard but the sound came back even louder knocking all of us onto the ground.

"THIS IS EVEN WORSE!" Amethyst yelled.

"I'M SORRY!" Greg yelled painiking.  
"DAD YOU CAN DO IT! YOU'RE THE AUDIO DADIO!"

"YEAH!" Greg yelled and started changing some things on his devices making the some muted and like…

"It sounds like music!" Steven yelled.

"Yeah! That's nice!" Greg said changing the sound around.

"But it's not supposed to be music! It's a message!" Pearl exclaimed.

"Alright I got this." Greg said moving more things around making the sound change. "It's changing."

"It almost sounds like a voice." Steven said.

"Aw most got it." Greg said but his van's battery overloads. The Gems stand up but Steven and I continue sitting on the cushions. "Aw great."

"What's happening? Where's the signal?" Pearl asked angrily.

"Looks like the van's battery couldn't handle all of it." Greg says disappointed and takes a seat on the van's inside.

"I knew this wouldn't work! There's just no way that Greg's equipment could interfase with our ancient Gem technology." Pearl said.

"Well it almost worked." I said feeling angry for Greg. "He did much better than any of us did."

"We just have to keep trying. We don't have the latest and greatest Gem tech-" Garnet cuts him off taking the microphone out and placing the pillow back in.

"It's okay Greg, you tried." Garnet said. "Back to the Temple. We'll figure something else out." She jumps back to the Temple.

"What a waste of time." Pearl said following Garnet.

"See you later, Greggory." Amethyst said following Pearl.

"Aw come on y'all!" Greg sighed and took his guitar out and sat down on the sand. "Dad…" And makes a song about the Wailing Stone and his inability to help the Gems. Steven speaks to his father trying to cheer him up. "If it isn't sound than what could it be?" At this point Steven was confusing me because he kept pointing to his eyes.

"Magic ...eye...balls ...Oh! Video!" Greg said figuring out what Steven was saying. "We have to tell the Gems!"

"Video!" Steven yells as he and Greg run up to the house. Everyone returns back to the car and help fix the battery. I watched the tv as Greg tries to change the sound channel. A blue Gem appears on the screen. She was a slim Gem that had cyan colored skin, cobalt blue chin-length hair with long bangs and a fringe that covered her forehead and royal blue eyes. She wore from what I could see a backless blue halter crop top with an upward facing navy triangle that tied into a blue sash ribbon on the back of her neck. The rest of her was difficult to see.

"Steven!" The Gem yelled anxiously. I guessed that she must be the same Lapis Lazuli that Steven told me about.

"Lapis?" Steven asked shocked.

"I did it!" Greg said happily.

"I can't believe my flipping eyes…" Pearl said in shock.

"Everyone! Listen up!" Garnet said.

"I hope you're able to hear this! There's a Gem that's looking for you! She even knew your name! I don't know how! I didn't tell her I swear! She's on her way to Earth! And she's not alone! Steven! Homeworld is not the way it used to be! Everything here is so advanced! I can't even understand it! There's no way anything on Earth can stand up to it! Please! Don't put up a fight! It will only lead to devastation!'

"It's Peridot… she must be talking about Peridot…." Pearl said defeated.

"She's coming for us!" Amethyst said in fear.

"Lapis… she sounds so unhappy…" Steven said and Amethyst and Pearl were freaking out.

"Few!" Garnet said. "We. Got. The. Message."

"What?" Amethyst said confused.

"It's. Got." Garnet said grinding her teeth and walked over to Greg with her hand out in a handshake. Greg looked down and took her hand. Garnet placed her other hand on top of Greg's and held it up."Thank you Greg. We would not have received this message without your help."

"You…" Greg says and tears in his eyes. "You're welcome."


	4. (4) The Return

Tensions remained in the house as the new threat of Peridot and other Gems remained in our minds. There seemed to be a constant clash between the Gems trying to lie to Steven that everything is alright vs. the fear that they actually had. Still remained as an outsider in this little family group thing, I was able to view these tensions from an outside perspective. Overall the Gems wouldn't notice when I was in the house when Steven wasn't there. They would have secret meetings when I spent most of my time hiding to not be spot. The Gems weren't sure if they felt a need to protect me the same way the felt they should protect Steven. Afterall I was an unknown half-Gem child that appeared out of nowhere with a mysterious Gem on my back that I was sure, none of them recognized. If Peridot, a modern Gem was advanced technology, couldn't even understand what I was. How were Gems much older than Peridot supposed to recognize my Gemstone.

It seemed that they tried to create new technology to stop the incoming Gems but it was no use. They accidentally turned off all the power in the city and eventually told Steven about their fear. But then a few weeks later a giant Green hand appeared in the sky, pointing directly at the Gems. The town was evacuated and I was able to use my Gem to disappear from their site. They ran around trying to find me but I wasn't going to leave, if I left the Gems… I'd have nothing left. I didn't have a Dad like Steven or connects to Beach City, the only sort of home I knew was the Beach House and I wanted to protect it. Steven left with his father. The Gems tried everything the could to stop the hand even fusion but it didn't work.

Steven used Lion to transport himself back to the Gems. The hand came down and I showed myself to the Gems. "Where were you?!" Pearl yelled. I held my ground strong.

"I couldn't leave." I explained. "There's nowhere else I can go. The Beach House… The Temple is my home."

"Stay behind us." Garnet said to both me and Steven and the hand extended into an open palm. A green ball similar to the ones we saw before floated in the air and moved to the index figure. The ball popped and the finger went down showing some Gems. A green light shone across all of Beach city.

The first Gem I recognized was Peridot. I could see know that her suit was mostly medium green with a dark green diamond outline around the cutout of her neck, forming into a yellow diamond insignia with a dark green portion between her chest and leggings. Her leggings covered her feet and showed yellow toes and diamond shaped knee pads. She still wore her visor and it covered the top half of her face and tints her eyes yellow-green. She was slightly curvy with wide hips, a small waist and a round chest. She had metallic fingers that levitated around the palm and was very tall.

"That's them alright." Peridot said moving forward showing an even taller, muscular and more intimidating Gem. "They're the ones that keep breaking my machines." The next Gem had tangerine skin with reddish orange markings on her face and arms. She had amber eyes and plump lips. Her gemstone was where a nose should be. She had thick, beige-white colored flowing hair, a muscular body and stood what seemed to be both taller and wider than Garnet.

"This is it?" She asked, looking at the Gems with their weapons out.

"Jasper! They keep interfering with my work!" Peridot said angrily. Jasper sighed and narrowed her eyes. She walked forward.

"Looks like another waste of my time." Her voice was hoarse and the deepest I had heard from a Gem. She pulled a hand forward. "Hey! Get over here!" Lapis Lazuli took her away and I saw her full figure. She was about the same height as Peridot if you didn't count the green Gems hair. She was tall and wore a flowing cobalt blue skirt, that was calf-length with a downward facing navy triangle around the waist with no shoes. I couldn't see her Gem. Lapis looked down and noticed Steven.

"Lapis…" Steven said.

"This is their base?" Jasper asked pointed at the Temple.

"Yes…" Lapis said quietly. The Crystal Gems, minus Steven, told the other Gems to leave but they ignored their taunts and dropped down.

"And neither of you saw Rose Quartz?" Jasper asked. "What a shame… I hoped to meet her. I was looking forward to beating her into the ground! But this is all that's left of her army? Some lost, defective Pearl, a puny overcooked runt and this shameless display?" She looked over at Steven and I. "What is that?"

"The smaller one calls itself 'The Steven'." Peridot said. "The taller one I believe is a new Gem. I couldn't recognize her on the database."

"He's just a human! He isn't a treat at all! He isn't one of them!" Lapis said quickly looking up at Jasper. "The other one I don't recognize!"

"I know what a human is! You don't need me with this…" Jasper said and walked back. "Just blast them with the ship."

Peridot huffed. "Find…" Her fingers made a panel which lifted the ship up making it point a finger at them. She drew a circle making an energy blast form near the tip of the finger.

"Steven! Get out of here! Take Suha with you!" Ganet yellen.

"No!" Steven yelled.

"I won't let you risk your life!"

"But this is my home! And you're all my family!" Steven yelled, a pink light started to form around his Gem making him glow.

"Firing." Peridot said and the energy blast came towards us.

"And… I'm a Crystal Gem too!" Steven yelled and jumped towards the blast. His shield appeared and the blast was nullified.

"That shield! That symbol!" Jasper yelled in shock. The shield disappeared and Steven fell to the ground. "You! You have the power of Rose Quartz!"

"Now do you believe I needed an escort?!" Peridot yelled angrily.

"Fire a barrage widespread!" Jasper ordered and Peridot drew a line. A line came down and Pearl grabbed me pulling me back. Garnet dived down with Steven.

"Rose! Why do you look like that?!" Jasper yelled. "Why are you so weak?"

"Don't hurt him!" Lapis yelled quickly running towards Jasper.

"You knew about this." Jasper said.

"It wasn't Rose until the mission!"

"Forget about the mission!" Jasper yelled.

"What?" Yelled Peridot.

"Yellow Diamond needs to see this… thing…" Jasper said looking down at Steven. Garnet appeared out from the ground and jumped forward. Jasper smiled and summoned an orange helmet with a diamond shaped extension on the front and a visor to protect her eyes and Gem. The impact knocked Garnet back and took out a strange weapon. It looked like a goldish brown arrowhead tipped tuning fork with a pale yellow oval shaped orb suspended between the tips. It game off streams of static energy between the orb and hilt. "Probably need the Gem Destabilizer."

She aimed it at Garnet causing a yellow line to split across her body and lines of yellow energy to slow through her physical form upon contact. Different parts of her body split open and her visor broke as she fell back. Garnet looked down at Steven with a line down the middle of her third eye and a giant cloud appeared where Garnet was. Her body was split into 12 different pieces and two Gemstones landed on the ground. Garnet froze in fear.

"I was there you know…" Jasper said walking forward. "At the first war for this garage planet. I fought against your armies, I respected your tactics. This.. This is sick!" She lifted Steven up.

"Unhand him!" Pearl yelled running forward with Amethyst.

"I don't get what you're planning Rose.. But look! Your base is taken! Your armies are ruined! You have failed." Jasper leaned down to get Steven a headbutt and my Gem glowed a dark color. A black hole appeared in the ground where I was and I placed my hands inside. Another hole appeared right where Steven was and my hands took his body but not fast enough for Jasper to not give him a headbutt. In a split second Steven was in my arms. Jasper froze staring at me and Pearl and Amethyst took the second to attack Jasper. But it was no use, with a single lash from the Gem Destabilizer they poofed. Steven was knocked out in my arms. Black holes appeared near the four Gemstones and I grabbed them all. I clutched them close to my chest with Steven.

Jasper walked towards me."Now what are you?" I looked up at her in fear. She grabbed my hair and pulled me up in the air. I screamed in pain but kept all of them in my arms. "Now where's the Gem?" It took her a couple seconds but eventually she found it. She took out her Destabilizer and aimed it directly at me but the moment it touched my skin yellow light faded and it turned dark gray and crumbled dust.

Jasper glared at me and before I knew it, I fell to the ground and was pulled by my hair to their ship. Black bubbles appeared around the Gems until turning them into a bubble of Steven's head. Jasper gave a thug to my arms and grabbed Steven and the Gems. Steven was thrown at Peridot who caught him in fear and the Gems were in Jasper's arm. She pulled me up by my hair making me stand to my feet and forced me to walk forward. Once we reached the outstretched finger she released my hand and I fell to the ground and welcomed unconsciousness.


	5. (5) Jail Break

I woke up to the sound of someone singing very close to my location. I found myself laying on the ground in cell. In the exit of the cell I could see an electric, yellow force field. I decided I wanted to check if I could get through the field and slowly moved towards it. The moment I touched the yellow light my Gem began to glow it the yellow force field faded dark gray. I took a step out of the now gray force field and once I had the rest of my body through it, it went back to the yellow light it had before. I was reminded of what happened with the Gem Destabilizer, how it turned a dark gray and how it was because of me.

I felt a sharp pain hit making me almost collapse to the ground but I forced myself to stand on my feet. Jasper… she did this… I closed my eyes trying to ignore the pain and followed the sound of someone singing. I noticed that around the room there were cells exactly the same as mine. I passed through one of the automatic doors and walked onward. It didn't take long for me to find Lapis Lazuli sitting on her knees with her back turned to me. I could see her Gemstone in the same spot as mine.

"Hey you're Lapis Lazuli right?" I asked and she turned her head in shock.

"You..!" She said. "You're that Gem that broke the Destablizier!"

"I don't think I broke it…" I said and moved my hand towards the cell she was in.

"Stop!" She yelled and I stared at her. "I don't want your help! Things are bad enough as it is! I already made too much trouble! Once we get back to Homeworld, they're going to decide what to do with us. So whatever you're doing just stop.. If we just listen to what they say, they might go easy on us…"

"Well I don't care much about Homeworld." I told her and placed my hand through the field making it fade dark gray. "All I see is someone trapped in a cell, alone. Steven told me a bit about you and I'm not going to pretend that I know what you're going through or your whole life. But what I do know is that being alone, whether that be alone in a cell or trapped in a mirror, isn't a healthy place to stay. I'm going to get you out of here, Lapis Lazuli. Are you going to sit here letting yourself be trapped? Or are you going to come with me and have however much time to be free?"

She looked down at my hand, waiting for her to take it. Tears began to roll down her cheeks as she went into a mental battle against herself. I could see so much fear in her eyes and a lack of trust but she took my hand. I placed my other hand high above the other so Lapis could walk through. Once she did, I released my hold on the field and it turned back to its normal color. I noticed that Lapis was still holding my hand, and once she saw where my eyes were looking she took her hand away with a blush on her face.

I gave her a small smile and we continued walking noticed two unfamiliar Gems and Steven with a black eye, were standing in a hallway. The first Gem was slender and slightly taller than the red Gem. She had blue skin, prominent lips and pale blue; wavy hair with bangs that covered the top half of her face. She reminded me a bit of Garnet in the face. She wore a floor length gown with white, rounded, puffy sleeves, a navy top with a blue pinafore, and a blue skirt with several frilly layers in several blue shapes. She also wore white elbow length evening gloves. I assumed that her feet were hidden underneath her dress.

The other Gem had bright scarlet skin, burgundy irises and dark burgundy, dark red eyes and square shaped hair. She was a little taller than Steven and had a thick build. She wore a maroon and brown tank top with a matching maroon hitai-ate tied around her hair. She also wore mid thigh burgundy shorts, and short, pointed maroon boots like Amethyst's.

"Ruby!" The blue Gem yelled and ran over to hug the red Gem. It took a split second for me to realize who they were and I noticed that they had a Gemstone on their left and right hand respectively. Steven followed the blue Gem over as Lapis and I watched.

"Did they hurt you?" Ruby asked placing her hand on the blue Gem's face.

"No no, I'm okay." The blue Gem said placing her smaller hand on Ruby's hand. "Did they hurt you?"

"Who cares?!" Ruby said happily tears forming in her eyes.

"I do!" The blue Gem said and leaned forward to kiss Ruby's eye. The two Gems laughed and twirled each other until they began to glow a white light. Garnet appeared without her visor and a large smile on her face. She landed on the ground near Steven.

"Steven!" Garnet said happily, her three eyes looking at him. "Thank you!"

"Garnet!" Steven said happily. "You're a fusion?!"

"I'm sorry." Garnet said. "We didn't want you meeting us here like this."

"Well did I make a good first impression?' Steven asked nervously.

"Aw Steven, we already love you." Garnet said placing a hand on Steven's face. I walked over to Steven and Garnet with Lapis trailing a bit behind. Garnet gave me a big hug.

'Who was the other Gem? The blue one?' I asked Garnet mentally.

'Sapphire.' Garnet said smiling as Steven went over to talk to Lapis.

"Where is she?!"Jasper's voice yelled angrily

"It's Jasper!" Garnet said in alarm. "Steven! Suha! Go find the others!"

"But we don't know where they are!" Steven yelled and Garnet placed a kiss on both of our foreheads. I felt as though a movie was going through my head, I could see exactly where the others were. "Future vision! Wait are you going to be able to beat her on your own?"

"It's okay Steven." Garnet said. "I'm never alone." Steven and I grabbed Lapis' hand and ran forward hearing Jasper's loud footsteps coming closer. I could hear Garnet singing as we grabbed Pearl and Amethyst. We didn't spend any time talking but just ran over to where we knew Peridot would be. Peridot grabbed the Gem Destablizier but Steven ran forward nullifying its effects. Amethyst sung her whip around Peridot so that she fell to the ground and was unable to move.

"Don't touch that! You clogs don't know what you're doing!" Peridot yelled as Pearl took a seat at the control seat.

"You got this Pearl!" Amethyst cheered.

"Okay ship! Turn us around!" Pearl said and placed her hands in the green water like liquid. We could see on the small monitor that Garnet was fighting Jasper while somehow singing, which was pretty amazing. The impact of Garnet throwing Jasper into the main core caused a shockwave making all of us fall to the floor and Amethyst lose control over Peridot. Peridot moved like a worm and touched the ground making an escape pod appear and shoot her out into Earth as Amethyst tried to grab her.

"Garnet!" We yelled as she appeared in the doorway.

"This ship is going down!" All of us fell to the ground and I made a move to grab Lapis' hand before the explosion but there wasn't enough time. There was a bright flash of green light and Garnet hugged us trying to protect us. There was a loud roar and I noticed that Steven protected us with his bubble.

"Nice one." Garnet said as the bubble released.

"Oh my gosh.." Steven said and looked up at Garnet with stars in his eyes. "I can't believe you're a fusion all the time!"

"You met Ruby and Sapphire?!" Amethyst said shocked.

"Oh no! We were going to introduce you…" Pearl said. "Garnet your plan."

"We were waiting for your birthday." She explained.

"We can still do it!' Steven said happily as we stood up. "I'll just pretend I didn't know!" There was a loud crash and a familiar orange hand pushed away the debris. Jasper fell to her hands and knees, exasperated.

"Don't think you've one!" Jasper said. "You only beat me cause you're a fusion! If I had someone to fuse with I- Huh?" Lapis pushed away large piece of the ship and fell to the ground. She looked over and noticed Jasper was close to her and formed her water wings and tried to fly away but Jasper grabbed her foot. "Come here brat!" She flipped Lapis over and grabbed her hand, lifting her above the ground. "Aw don't fly off so soon!"

"Lapis!" Steven and I yelled and tried to move towards her but Amethyst and Pearl held back Steven while Garnet did the same to me.

"Lapis listen!" Jasper said. "Fuse with me!"

"What?" Lapis said in shock staring at her.

"How long did they keep you trapped here on this miserable hunk of rock?" Jasper asked grabbing her face and releasing her arm making Lapis fall to the ground. Lapis looked over at us. "These Gems, they're traitors to their Homeworld! They kept you prisoner! They used you! This is your chance to take revenge! Come on… just say yes."

"Lapis don't do it." Steven said. There was a moment of silence until Lapis stuck her hand out towards Jasper. Jasper smiled and grabbed her hand. "No!" Jasper twirled Lapis and looked over at us with a hideous smile on her fake. They began to glow and turned into one of the biggest and scariest fusions I had ever seen.

This new Gem was a colossal and had six arms, the lower four functioned as legs. She had four eyes with light green berries and pointed teeth. Her first set of eyes functioned like eyebrows and her eyes changed shape depending on who was controlling her. When her eyes were small and catlike, they were Jasper's and when they were larger, rounder shaped they were Lapis. She had wavy pale green hair that was titled lin a star, that was in a short bob similar to Lapis but wild and Frizzy like Jasper's. Her skin was turquoise with dark green stripes and in a pattern similar to Jasper's. She had two torsos joined like a Centaur, her upper torso and arms were much longer and slender while her lower torso had four limbs that were muscular.

The upper half of her outfit was a deep-green and greenish-black stitched halter top with pattern like Lapis' suit and a necklike like Jasper's. While the lower half was a greenish-black uniform like Jasper's with a V neck color that connected to form a yellow diamond insignia, making it look like a waistband for her upper torso.

All of us cowered in fear as the fusion laughed and began to summon water into a large hand even bigger than her body. But the water hand grabbed her left arm and formed into a chain making her gasp in confusion. While another water arm came from behind and formed a different chain. "Huh? What?" She asked and a different hand went around her and formed into an X styled chain. The fusion tried to move forward but was stopped. "What are you doing?!" A Jasper like voice asked. "I'm done being everyone's prisoner." A Lapis like voice said. "Now you're my prisoner! And I'm never letting you go!" Two water hands came from behind the fusion's back legs and formed into chains pulling her to the ground. She tried to unfuse but was unable to.

"Lapis! Steven yelled as she was being dragged into the sea. All of us ran over towards the water watching what was going on in horror.  
"Let's say on this miserable planet… forever!" The Lapis voice yelled and pulled her down into the ocean, making her disappear.

"Yikes…" Garnet said. "They are really bad for each other…" Steven's phone began to ring and I hugged Garnet's arm, not entirely sure how to feel.

"Uh…hello?" Pearl leaned onto Garnet's arm and Garnet placed a hand on my head.

"Steven are you okay?! What's going on?!" Connie's voice yelled through the phone. "Steven?"


	6. (6) Full Disclosure

All of us were still looking out at the ocean, thinking about Malachite and the destruction that the crash caused. "Well that could have gone a lot worse." Pearl said trying to be positive. Neon Green fire was around all of the Beach and the upper cliff where the lighthouse was. There were piles of broken Gem ship debris everywhere.

"Could've gone a lot better too." Garnet said looking around.

"Steven I got your message! Steven, what happened?!" Connie voice said nervously over the phone. I think it was because we were Gems, well half-Gem too, that we could hear her voice even though she wasn't on speaker.

"We won!" Amethyst yelled happily, grabbing Steven's shoulders taking him out of his trance. Amethyst thrilled Steven around laughing happily.

"Is that Amethyst?!" Connie asked confused and Steven smiled. Lion placed his head on Steven's forehead making Steven laugh nervously. "What's going on?! You said that there's some kind of giant space hand and you all might die?!"

"Woohoo!" Amethyst yelled ruffing Steven's hair skipping over to where the rest of us were.

"Connie you're not going to believe what happened!" Steven said and Lion huffed and walked away putting his butt in Steven's face making him grimace. "Where do I even start?!"

"I see you P!" Amethyst yelled happily and hugged Pearl making her move left and right. Pearl had a startled look on her face.

"It's a madhouse over here!" Steven yelled looking over at poor Pearl smiling.

"Amethyst! That's enough celebrating!" Pearl yelled. There was a familiar sound of Steven's father's car beeping making all of us stop and Lion jump into the air disappearing. Greg's car, now that I actually paid attention to it was a 2-door 1980s hatchback. There was a sticker on one of the back windows that read "dad on board" which was over another sticker that said "!USED!" in all capital letters. That car's interior had five seats, a radio and a tape deck. The car was pretty large and had a beautiful design that had "UNIVERSE" in dark purple on the passenger side and paintings of the Earth and shooting stars. Though the most defining feature was that long dark orange stripe that ran across the car.

"STEVEN!" Greg yelled from his door.

"DAD!" Steven yelled happily. "Connie I have to go but I promise I'll call you back!" He hung up the phone and lifted his hands up into the air shouting "DAD'S BACK! DAD'S BACK!" I could feel the jealousy rise as the father-son duo gave each other a large hug. I had forgotten that Garnet was next to me because she picked me up.

"Garnet!" I blushed embarrassed. She laughed lightly and threw me up into the cry like a parent does a child. I screamed as she kept doing it and eventually I started laughing, the laughter turned into tears and she placed me back onto the ground. I hugged her around her waist and I could feel the seriousness of the situation getting to me, it took me a second to realize I was shaking. Well… panic attack. I held my breath trying to calm myself down as Garnet started messing with my hair by braiding the already braided locs.

I heard loud music coming from Steven and Greg's direction and realized that Greg was also panicking inside his car. Steven must have told him what had happened. I felt my eyes get heavy and the next moment I woke up, it was morning. When I opened my eyes I noticed I laying on the couch.

"Aw come on!" Amethyst whined.

"No whining." Garnet said. "We need to start learning up the debris."

"Garnet is right! People are already coming back into town!" Pearl said looking down.  
"We gotta keep them off the beach." Steven said glaring already at the window. "If any humans got access to Gem technology they could really hurt themselves." He pulls down the shades of the window. "Maybe we should shut them out… for good."

Seems like Steven is going through his own kind of… adjustment to the situation. In a weird kind of way that didn't suit him. Though maybe it was because he felt a connection to beach city… I felt a wave of dark emotions push into my head which I tried to push down. Of course a constant reminder of the lack of knowledge I had about, what I was confused me more. What am I?... Who am I?... I looked down at the pillow as they continued to talk.

"You know, we did have a fence…" Pearl said thinking about what Steven had said. "Let's get a new one! With barbed wires!"

"Yeah and this time let's built a moat…" Amethyst said and covered her face turning it into a crocodile. "I could be… the crocodile! Jazz hands!" Pearl rolled her eyes and crossed her arms.  
"No…" Garnet said.

"Why not?" Amethyst asked her face the same.

"You always say you'll be the crocodile.." Pearl said with her hands on her hips making Amethyst turn back into her original self and glare at her. "But you never commit!"

"No fence either." Garnet said.

"Garnet!" The two Gems whined.

"Steven needs to see his father and his friends." She said and turned her body over to me. "And I think it's better for Suha too." I whined when I heard my name but didn't say anything.  
"No I don't." Steven said walking away from the mirror. "I can't keep clinging to the vestiges of my humanity." He placed a hand on the wall. "It's time I got serious." The jingle from Steven's phone went off as well as it vibrated The phone was in his pant's pockets. He cringed childlessly, making the demeanor he had before nullified.  
"Steven? Why is your communication device playing that song?" Pearl asked.

"It's Connie trying to call me." Steven answered and Amethyst picked through the blinds. Steven's face darkened. "But I can't face her anymore…"

"So you're just going to ignore her?" Pearl asked taking a step forward in concern. "Forever?"  
"It's the responsible thing to do." Steven said crossing his arms in defiance.

"It's the stupid thing to do." I muttered making him pout at me.

"Well it's gonna be pretty hard, cause she's coming up the steps right now." Amethyst said making Steven and Pearl look at her.

"What?!" Steven yelled in panic. There was a knock at the door and Steven moved himself from view heading towards the window.. Pearl opened the door with Garnet standing behind her.  
"Oh! Hello…." Pearl said awkwardly trying to pretend she didn't know she was already coming. "Connie…"

"Is Steven home?" Connie asked as the door window opened a few meters from the door and Steven tried to sneakily open the window and move his body through.

"I'm just really worried! He hasn't been answering his phone!" Connie exclaimed as Steven snuck behind her. "What's going on?!"  
"Eh…. I don't know…" Pearl said. "I don't understand your human relationships. So um… goodbye!" Pearl said and closed the door on her. Garnet waved and walked away while Connie turned around.

"STEVEN!" Connie yelled and I moved over towards the door as Connie ran after Steven. I pushed the door open and watched their exchange. Connie continued to yell Steven's name as he hid behind leftover thumb of the hand while she looked around confused.

"Are you in trouble?! Is something wrong?! DId I do something wrong?! Why are you avoiding me?!" Steven didn't answer and she took out her phone and dialed his number. The jingle went on for a split second and Steven turned it off, not giving Connie enough time to locate him. Connie looked around the debris.

"Steven I know you're here! Why are you hiding from me?!" There was a pause and Connie read a message from her phone, but I was too far to hear it. She called Steven. "Steven?!" Steven said something to her and Connie's face turned into anger. "Say it to my face! Say you don't want to be friends anymore! If- If you can do that, then I'll leave you alone! And I'll just go back to having no friends! But I won't believe it until you say it to my face!"

Steven climbed on top of the thumb making Connie lookup and jumped down. His face was still looking at the ground. "Well?!" Steven lifted up his face and tears and snot ran down his face.

"I still want to be friends!" Steven yelled pitifully. They spoke to quietly for me to hear but Connie gave him a hug and they sat on the beach. Some minutes passed and eventually Greg drove over and spoke to Steven. I could see that all of them were smiling and they got into the car and drove away playing a nice tone. I looked inside the house and noticed the Gems were gone. I looked down at the beach and whipped some tears away from my eyes.

Now that I was alone, I could finally allow myself to release some of my feelings.

watch?v=i2fezyjs_aY

The Little Prince - "Equation" - English version + Lyrics

Camille and Hans Zimmer

"[Intro]

Minus 2 by minus 3

6Y you end up with 5

X plus 3Y times 2XXY

Rewrite equation one

[Verse 1]

Have I made you cross?

Have I made you sad?

Have I made you proud, Mom?

Will I ever know

How white is the snow?

Does it matter after all?

Will I ever learn

How to fly like birds?

Maybe

In an hour

In a day

In a week

In a thousand weeks

In a year

In a million years

[Verse 2]

Are you good as gold?

Are you far from hope?

Are you well?

Hello, Dad?

Will I be a brave

Will I be a bright

Will I be a good grown-up?"


	7. (7) Joy Ride

Immediately once Steven returned after dropping Connie off we were back to working. My song was left by itself in secret and I quickly joined in. Steven and I both had shovels in our hands and were trying to dig up all of the old Gem junk from the crash while the actual Gems were simply using their hands. It was a hot day and we had been outside for a long time, there were so many pieces that we couldn't see because of the sand.

It's amazing and sad how good the sand and the ocean are at hiding trash. "Do we really have to get every piece?" Steven asked, as sweat continued to fall down his forehead. Amethyst was digging through the sand like a dog and picked up a piece the size of Steven. While Garnet picked up a piece that was twice as tall and as wide as she was.

"Yes." Garnet said with a hand on her hips. "Having a wrecked Gem ship lying around is too dangerous. We got to take care of it." She looked down at the bundle of debris. "All of it."

Pearl began to walk over. "And we need to start looking for Peridot's escape pod too." She placed down different pieces of rubble near Amethyst's and Garnet's. "Assuming she even made it to Earth."

"We've got lots of work ahead of us." Garnet said and Steven placed down a his piece in a bag. I noticed a piece in the sand and bent down. I grabbed it with two hands and pulled. Almost immediately a giant piece came out of the sand and I fell on my butt.

"How-?!" I yelled angrily as I patted the sand off my shorts. I was wearing the clothes that Pearl had made me. Steven walked away to a different section and all of us continued the long work ahead.

By the time we had returned it was already night fall. My body was very sore as I laid down on the bed. The Gems had decided that I needed a bad as well and made a bunk bed, Steven was on the bottom while I was on the top. It didn't take long for us to get used it to. After all we have been living with each other for a few months now.

"The calluses on my hands have calluses." Steven groaned. "The working man's burden is truly a heavy one." I was about to say something to him but there was a loud thud on the window. I moved over to the end of the bed near the window and saw a pepperoni pizza sliding down the window. I knew there was a pizza place near Beach City but I never had the chance, nor the guts to go down. Social interactions were not my fortay, especially with other humans.

"Pizza rain!" Steven exclaimed and looked up towards the clouds. "But no pizza clouds." I held back my laughter. "Woah!" Steven jumped out off his bed and motioned me down. "Come on! I have some people I want you to meet!"

"But…" I thought back to a moment I like to call the incident, where I hurt Steven… though he doesn't remember it. "Alright…" Steven and I walked outside and two people walked over to us. I hid behind Steven nervously, which didn't work that well since he was shorter than me.

They seemed like they were both teenagers. The first had light brown-coral skin and dark brown hair. He wore a pair of sunglasses, so I couldn't tell his eye color, an overly large red button-up shirt with unbuttoned cuffs, a white shirt with a yellow lightning bolt design, dark blue slim-fit jeans, and cyan and blue sneakers with white soles. The other had pale skin, almost paper white, with platinum blonde hair styled into a point, ice blue eyes and a long, angular face. He wore a grayish-blue hoodie over a light gray undershirt, orange phat pants, and bright sea-foam green tennis had a concerned expression on his face. Both of them were tall.

"What are you guys doing here?" Steven asked recognizing the teens. Well Steven and I were both technically teens but they were more of older teens, young adults. I guessed them to be around eighteen. "And why are you making it pizza rain?"

"I wanted to see you laughing, in the pizza rain." The one with the shades said with a monotone voice.

"Is that a reference to something?" Steven asked.

"Come on, it's time to hang out." Shades said, pointing away from the beach house. "You can bring your friend too."

"You can't hang out at night! Night is for dreaming!" Steven said surprised.

"Night's whatever you want it to be. Time's an illusion." The other teen said still holding the pizza. Steven hmmed.

"Aren't you done working for the day?" Shades asked happily.

"Yeah okay! Let's hang out!" Steven said happily.

"Nice." Shades said.

"But first we need to deliver the rest of this pizza to Mr. Smiley." He said, there were only three pieces left. Steven and I followed them to a convertible. It was mozzarella-yellow in color and was decorated with pepperoni and mushrooms as an art pattern. It had it's top retracted and there was a license plate in the front of the car that said 'PIZZA' but the plate in the rear was blank. There was another teen in the driver's seat. She wore large gold earrings, a pale cream colored shirt, a dark brown leather jacket with a beige fur-trimmed collar, lavender shorts (previously long pink pants), and mint-colored flats. She had brown skin and wire her hair in a puffy bob hairstyle.

"Hey we have another one!" She said happily as we climbed into the car. Steven took the passenger seat while I took the middle between the guys from before. "I'm Jenny, that's Sour Cream, and that's Buck!"

"I'm Suha…" I said nervously blushing. "Nice to meet you…"  
"Are you like Steven's cousin?" Jenny asked me.

"Well, no… I"m just… living there now…" I said and she passed back a different box of pizza. Sour Cream and Buck too a slice and I followed suit. She asked Steven to hold the rest of it. As we drove off I was looking down at my hands the whole time, I couldn't help but feel awkward around them. I didn't even realize it but we were already on a different road, the wind blowing through our hair.

"Woohoo!" Jenny yelled happily. "The wind in your face! That's what I'm talking about!" Buck leaned forward near Steven's seat.

"Breathe in Steven, this is the smell of freedom!" Steven did just what he said and took a deep breath.  
"Freedom smells like pepperoni!" Steven said happily and Jenny laughed.  
"That's just the car!" She said.

"You know what food definitely smells like freedom? Fish." Sour Cream said.

"Why fish?" Steven and I asked, though Steven was much louder.

"Uh oh, here we go." Jenny said.

"I just don't get what's wrong with wanting to be a DJ? But my step-dad was all on my case again saying "Muh Muh Muh Muh…" I just don't want to be a fisherman! Everyone knows you can't rave in a raincoat step-dad!"

"At least he only bugs you about one thing, my dad has to say something about everything I do. Just because I'm the Major's son! And I'm like "You can't tell me what to you! I'm the Major's…." wait…"

"Please! You're just walking in cake with that talk! You guys don't even know what bad is until you have a sister! I don't know why I have to spell it out, that I'm the evil twin and she's the good one! Don't ask me to help you with your homework, I'm at some metal concert!"  
"Family stuff is trickly." Steven said and they all agreed, I remained silent just listening in. "A few months back, my Dad and the Gems grounded me from TV." The teens all let out some like of supporting lines. "And then I found out that the Gems are alien rebels and there are other Gems that want us dead because they think we're traitors. And they tried to take me hostage because they think I'm my Mom. And… maybe… I kind of am?" Steven took a deep breath. "I wish I could talk to Garnet, Amethyst and Pearl about it, but I think they kind of blame me for my Mom not being around…"

No one said anything, I had already heard this from Steven but it was still hard to hear. Jenny turned off the radio. "That's heavy…"

"I guess…" Steven said.

"But you always seem to upbeat, you're a real champ Steven Universe." Buck said pulling his shades up, showing his brown eyes.

"I'd do fishing in a heartbeat if it meant not dealing with, that!" Sour Cream pointed outside and Jenny stopped the car freaking out.

"What?! What did I hit?! What is it?!" She yelled only to notice that Sour Cream wasn't looking at her.

"Glowing…" He said and we all looked at a green glow in the distance.

"We gotta check it out." Buck said.

"I'm down." Sour Cream said.

"I'm down with that." Jenny said and changed her gears, going into the fields. I could see that something made an impact onto the field creaming a square and then a diamond, with a circle inside of it and something green in the middle.

"That's as bright as like… six hundred glow sticks!" Sour Cream said as we got out of the car and walked closer to it. But the time we got to the pit, I gasped and looked over at Steven. He nodded his head, we saw the green Marble from before. It had dents in it from the impact and was surrounded by rocks.

"Peridot's escape pod…!" Steven said and took a deep breath. "Alright! Everybody stand back! This is a Gem machine and could be extremely dangerous-" He didn't notice that Sour Cream was walking forward with a stone about the size of Kiki's head. "What're you doing?!" Sour Cream threw the rock down and yelled "Boom!" The teens walked down towards it. "Woah! Stop! Peridot might be in there!"

"Peri what?" Buck asked and I walked down with them.

"This biz is empty!" Jenny said. Buck laughed.

"It's so busted." He said and Steven slid down. He picked up Jenny easily and placed her farther away.

"You need to relax!" She said placing her hand up in a stop motion. "It's not doing anything!"

"It's not just the pod! It means Peridot is out there somewhere! Trying to hurt the Earth!" Steven exclaimed.

"Not cool! Earth forever!" Buck said and picked the pod. Sour Cream bent down and grabbed more rocks.

"Here come the rocks!" He said and threw a bunch at the pod, they just rolled off. Jenny took out her phone.

"Steven, come take a selfie with me and this thing." Jenny said.

"No Jenny I'm serious!" Steven said.

"So. Am. I." Jenny said and the guys moved the pod around so that the opening where a Gem would sit was facing us. "Sour Cream, what about you?"

He shrugged. "Sure I'm down with forever."

"Buck?"

"Nah, I'd like to experience the moment for what it is sometimes, plus the lighting is weird."

"Okay… Suha?" They looked over to me and I jumped.

"Wait… you want me… in your… photo?" I asked blushing.

"Of course! Anyone that's cool with Steven is cool with us! We'll post it about our new friend Suha!" Jenny said and placed me near the front. "Steven… last call!" He didn't say anything. "I got funny stickers!"

Jenny started taking different photos. One with just Steven, her and Sour Cream, the three of them and the she moved me over towards Buck. "Alright you two, say cheese!" Buck took off his glasses and put an arm around me. I felt some stress fall off out me and gave her a big smile. "There's a smile!" Then she moved everyone together. She smiled happily. "These are so good!"

"How do we look?" Steven said pulling me into a pose near the opening.

"You guys look great! Look, they right there, I want to take one more-" She gasped. "Steven, Suha, get in it!" We looked at the pod nervously. "Just for a second! One picture!" There was a second where we just looked at it once more and then we climbed in. "Okay…. Ready! Three! Two-" Steven and I took out peace signs and then all of a sudden it turned on. "Oh my gosh! Steven! This is so cool!" Jenny placed her hand on the glass and suddenly Steven brought his hands up and they turned green. We immediately moved forward and I fell back. Next thing you know we were out of the pit and on it's head. "Woah! Steven! How are you doing that?!"  
Steven turned us around to face them. "I think it listens to what my hands do! I really shouldn't be playing with this! I have to take this back to the temple immediately! "

"No way! You just got it working!" Jenny said. "Let Suha have a try!" I nervously moved forward and placed my hands on the glass. Next thing you know all of us were messing around with the pod and I found myself having a lot of fun. Every couple minutes Steven and I traded spots, it was a lot of fun and I couldn't help but feel happy I listened to Steven and went with them. Steven ran forward and tried to jump over the haystack only for it to miss and us to fall on the found.

"We're okay!" We called.

"It's not actually so bad if you give it a little-" Steven pushed the side and a black curtain came over it. The pod powered up and we started floating in the air. There was an electric pulse and it sent the teens to the ground.

"Guys?" We yelled and a weird liquid was floating up, we held our breath only to realize that for some reason we could breathe. There were green and white things that were floating up in it. The pod let out energy gems and Steven accidentally touched the side making a flare go up in the shape of a diamond. The pod started chasing the teens around and there was nothing we could do about it.

"Steven! Suha! What's going on!" Jenny yelled.

"Guys! Can you hear me?!" Steven yelled and the Gems appeared a few meters behind the teens, standing in battle formation.

"They think we're Peridot!" I said gripping Steven in fear.

"I knew it! That flare led us right to the escape pod!" Pearl said, her spear drawn.

"What's going on here?!" Amethyst asked angrily, her whip in her right hand. The teens waved their hands and asked for help.

"We'll save you humans!" Pearl yelled and aimed two spears at the pod, I pulled Steven down and we dodged it. "I can't believe it! Peridot's still inside!"

"She's probably weak from the landing! Don't hold back!" Garnet said taking out her gauntlets. They ran over towards us as the teens yelled "No!" Amethyst's whip twisted around the pod. "You've got a lot of nerve taking refuge here! Of all places!" Garnet grabbed the whip and pulled the pod closer.

"Garnet?" Steven and I said in fear.

"I don't know where you get off asking defenseless humans in your beat-up escape pod!" Garnet yelled, pulling it even closer. I grabbed Steven and closed my eyes, my heart felt like it was racing a thousand beats per second and my body was shaking in hear. This is how I die? I could feel tears go down my face as Steven yelled.

"Garnet! Can you hear me! It's me Steven! Garnet!"

"And if you think you're safe here?! I got news for you! You lost!' Garnet pulled as in punching distance and her gauntlets appeared in her right hand, she held it back about to punch the ship.

"Garnet! Garnet! GARNET!" Steven yelled.

"Stay off our planet!" Garnet yelled and aimed a punch at us.

Steven held me in a hug and just as I thought it was over I heard Jenny yell "STOP!" There was a pause. "Steven and Suha's in there…" Another pause, I felt the pod being pulled forward and there was a crack and we fell in the green liquid.

"Steven! Suha!" Pearl yelled and Steven stood up. I was still in shock so I stayed on the ground, my arms clutching my knees and my head down.

"What were you doing in there?!" Amethyst yelled.

"You found Peridot's escape pod and you didn't come get us immediately?! I'd escape this from Suha because she's new but Steven!" Pearl yelled angrily.

"Dude, we almost wrecked you."Amethyst said.

"Steven… Suha… this is unexceptable. I'm very disappointed in you." Garnet said. At this point I was already crying, both from shock, fear and being disappointed in myself.

"You're right… I'm sorry…" Steven said.

"Cut them some slack!" Jenny yelled and the teens ran over towards us.

"It's not their fault!" Buck said helping me up. I still couldn't face them.

"Just let them be DJs!" Sour Cream yelled.

"Wha-?" Pearl asked confused.

"We just wanted them to have some fun. I don't know what's going on with aliens trying to abduct them and him being his own mom. But it sounds like Steven's got a lot on his mind. I don't even know Suha and I can tell she's not doing so well either."

"I'm sure what you're making them do is important but everyone needs a break one and a while!" Jenny said.

"They're just kids!" Buck said simply.

"Maybe… we have been a little hard on them…" Pearl said looking at Garnet.

"They did just break us out of space jail." Amethyst said also looking at Garnet.

"Steven you're ungrounded from Steven." Garnet said and Steven ran over and hugged her. Garnet walked over with Steven on her leg and placed a hand on my head. "Suha, I know this has been hard on Steven, and I can't be sure how you're doing. You don't know us that well and I'm sure you're scared. I'm, no we're all sorry."

Garnet picked me off the ground and I put my arms around her neck. I wiped away my tears as we took some more photos. Once we were done I felt a hand on my head and saw it was Pearl. I must've looked really shocked because she looked away embarrassed.

"Sorry…" Pearl said and I gave her a small smile.

"Alright! All of you together!" Jenny said and Garnet place dme down. Garnet bent down and Steven and I got in the middle, with Amethyst on Steven's side and Pearl on my, also crouching down. I looked around.

'It's not easy living with them, but I can tell it's getting better.'

"Cheese!" We said together and the photo was taken.


	8. (8) Reformed

It was a few weeks after the incident of the Gems almost killing me and Steven. There were a few interesting moments that happened, such as Garnet getting a love letter from the mailman Jaime. Of course she denied his confession since she's already in a relationship. But at the moment I was watching Steven taking a quiz about which 'Crying Breakfast Friend' he was. It was a beautiful day once again in Beach City, we were near the sand. There was a ding sound that came from his phone and I was that he was Sniffling Croissant, a croissant with two dark colored legs and big eyebrows. He had blue tears running down his closed eyes.

"You are: Sniffling Croissant." Steven said smiling, on his makeshift seat, which was actually a tire next to an empty box of tools with a wrench on the ground. "You really know me internet. Hey guys!"

"Yes Steven?" Greg asked, the hood of his car was open and he plus Pearl were trying to figure out what was wrong with it.

"You guys should take this online quiz I found! It tells you what..." Steven said happily as Pearl walked over to pick up the wrench, obviously not interested. He stands up. "It tells you what character you are from 'Crying Breakfast Friends'!"

"Eh.. why?" Pearl asked.

"It's just fun to see yourself as a cartoon character!" He looks down at his phone. "Like Weeping Eggcup, who's naratic and uptight!" That was obviously Pearl. "Or Pinning Grapefruit, the insensitive older one who wishes he was a better model." Greg.

"Maybe we could do that thing after we fix the van." Greg says and they turn back around.

"Okay…" Steven says and takes my hand. "We'll go find someone else!" We ran back to the Beach House, though with our advanced hearing we were still able to hear their conversation.

"Do you understand that children's show?" Pearl asked Greg.

"I don't understand anything anymore." Greg answers. I already did the quiz, I was Spilled Milk. The stern and stubborn one who is always trying to find the simplest solution to any situation. I'm practical and crying constantly….

Steven opens the door, out of breath from the run and closes it. We look and see Amethyst holding a bunch of food, with the fridge open looking for more. She had what looked like cantaloupe, a piece of pepperoni and mushroom pizza, a classic hamburger sandwich, an apple, a large drumstick and the entire bottle of mustard. "Hey Steven, is there anymore engine oil?" Amethyst asks. My relationship with Amethyst was always for some reason, distant. "I need it for the sandwich."

"I… think that's for cars?" Steven says slowly.

"It is." I answer him.

"Well…" She shuts the door with her foot. "Is there anymore of it?" Steven walks over near Amethyst and I follow.

"Dad's probably got some from outside." Steven says pointing to the door. "Oh but.. You gotta take this online quiz!" He takes out his phone and shows it to her. "WHICH CRYING BREAKFAST FRIEND are YOU?"

Amethyst takes a seat on the counter and places down the food. "That shows really weird… Who wants to watch a cartoon about people crying?'

"I do." Steven says, looking hurt. "Even Suha took the quiz!" Amethyst didn't seem to register Steven say my name.

"Ok! Ok!" Amethyst said rolling her eyes. "What's the first question?"

"Do you ever ask without thinking?" Steven asks just as Amethyst takes the bottle of mustard making it splat all over the food.

"Nope! Never!" She says,

"Are you afraid of taking risks and trying new things?" Amethyst picks up the plate of food and stuffs it in her mouth.

"Terrified." She answers, her mouth still full of food. She licks some of the leftover mustard off her mouth.

"Can you be serious?" I ask her.

"Next question." She says to Steven, ignoring me.

"Amethyst! Are you taking this seriously?" Steven asks.

"Of course!" She says, rolling her eyes again.

"Are you insecure about your relationships and how you are perceived by other people?" Amethyst eyes widen and she freezes for a moment and looks away.

"No...Yes…. What's the right answer?!"

"There is no right answer. You're just supposed to answer honestly." Steven says and Amethyst puts her hands over her head.

"Nah, I'm bored." She walks over to the Temple Door and Steven follows.

"Wait! I have loads of more probing and personal questions to ask!" The purple Gem on the door glows and I see a glimpse of Amethyst standing in a room with purple floors and Amethyst Gems all around the wall. The door closes. It took a couple hours but eventually they came back with Amethyst in her Gem.

"What happened?!" I yelled running forward. "How-"

"It's okay, Suha, it's an illusion remember? She'll be fine." Garnet said.

"But… but…." I muttered and took a seat on the couch with Steven staring at the Gemstone.

"I knew that thing was real!" Pearl said. "When Amethyst gets back we have to go find it!" Pearl walks over to us. "How long has it been?"

"Four hours." Steven states.

"Four hours?" Pearl and I ask shocked.

"How long is she going to take?" I asked pathetically. Pearl gives me a worried look.

"She's never taken so long. What is she doing in there?" Pearl asked looking over at Garnet.

"I'm not sure." Garnet says and crosses her arms. "I was too hard on her." Steven lets out a small sigh and a white light glows from Amethyst.

"Oh! Oh! She's going back!" Steven yells as the Gem floats in the air. Steven pulls me over to Garnet and Pearl. "Alright! Everyone be supportive!"

"Why wouldn't we-"Amethyst returns, the colors of her tank top and leggings were reversed: her tank top was black with two small small slots on each side towards the bottom, and her leggings were mauve with black stars on the knees. Her right shoulder strap was fixed, on her shoulder rather than off while her boots remained while. She lands on the ground and stretches, gives us a glance and then looks to the side with her hands on her hips.

"Awe, you barely changed!" Steven yells and I smack him on his shoulder.

"Steven!" Pearl yells and Garnet walks forward, making all of us stare at her. Amethyst jumps down from the table and stares up at her, holding her breath.

"It's perfect." Garnet says smiling.

"Eh, whatevs, it's just what feels right." Amethyst says looking away.

"And that's why it's perfect." Garnet explains and moves out of the way as Pearl rushes over. She bends down smiling.

"It is a marked improvement." Pearl says happily. "You finally fixed that shoulder strap that's alwayed bugged me!" Steven runs over and gives her a hug.

"Welcome back!" Amethyst glares down but doesn't remove him from her waist.

"Well done Amethyst!" Pearl says happily giving her a hug.

"Knock it off!" Amethyst says embarrassed with a blush on her face. Garnet bends down and gives them all a hug. "We gotta go find that Slinker!"

"No! It's hug time!" Steven cheers.

"Eh! This is so dumb!" Amethyst groans, the blush still on her face. She looks over at me and I give her a smile.  
"It's nice to have you back." I stated and place my hand on her shoulder. Eventually she gives a big smile once she thinks everyone isn't looking.


	9. (9) Keeping It Together

Development amongst Steven and Connie was interesting yet very strange to see. Connie was learning how to sword fight from Pearl but she was also becoming too serious of a person. It showed how toxic Pearl's teaching was becoming for Connie, although it was very obvious that Connie was also learning something from Pearl. It was strange to see how much Connie was coming out of her shell, she was a good sword fighter but she and Pearl both needed to realize that they need to deepen on the other person when fighting. It seemed that there was more to learn from about the war and Pearl's relationship with Rose Quartz, Steven's mother.

I heard all of them from Steven himself, and also how Pearl accidentally called Steven Rose, but also how Pearl was able to see her own faults from her viewpoint. There was also an investigation/interview from some strange guy called Ronaldo. A guy who was moderately tall with a thick build with a similar complexion to Steven. He had long, blonde, 'fry-like' hair that resembles curly fries. He often wore an apron and underneath it was a burgundy colored shirt with orange and yellow flames covered by his apron, that he left untucked an tan cargo shorts that reached his knees. He also wore gray wrapped around sandals and glasses.

To me he was just a strange guy with strange theories. I only met him a few times, because he kept sneaking around the Beach House but overall I didn't speak to him much.

"We need to track down Peridot. We found her pod and we know she's out there somewhere." Garnet said one day. "She came to Earth with a job to do, and odds are she's still going to try and do it. That's why I've gathered you here."

All of us were folding Steven's shirt together, well Amethyst was looking at a magazine not helping but that's besides the point.

"I thought it was so you can help me fold all this laundry." Steen said folding a shirt quickly and slapping it into another pile.

"That too, the chore we had you do fell apart real fast." Garnet said, still holding a shirt.

"Wasn't me." Amethyst said and we looked at the chore circle. It consisted of Washing Dishes, Drying Dishes, Laundry, Mopping and Dusting. I had washing dishes as my chore, Steven had drying dishes as his chore, Amethyst had laundry as her's, Garnet had mopping as her's and Pearl had dusting. But since Pearl didn't like how any of us did the chores she crossed out our names and wrote her own in blue ink in cursive.

All of us looked over at Pearl as he had a somewhat guilty smile on her face. "I just really enjoy doing all those things."

"It's better if we do them together." Garnet looked over at Amethyst and she rolled her eyes and placed down the magazine.

"Humans should just stop wearing clothes! I'd be a lot funnier." Amethyst said smirking at Steven.

"Hey! I'm a civilized part-human thank you very much. Clothing is a must." Steven hmmed. "This is a lot.. I'd bet this folding would go faster if Ruby and Sapphire were here!"

"I'm sure they'd be glad to see you, but I am not unfusing for laundry." Garnet explained.

"Garnet. You don't think Peridot would come looking for us… do you?" Pearl asked.

"We weren't her priority. She was sent here to do something in the Kindergarten." Garnet stated.

"Well then shouldn't we look there?" I asked. "It makes the most sense, she doesn't know much about Earth as a whole and going back to her mission's location is understandable."

Garnet stood up. "Don't worry we'll stop her." She walked towards the Warp Pod. "Come on Crystal Gems."

"Coming!" Pearl said happily following her.

Amethyst groaned. "As long as we don't have to fold anything." She said as she took out her whip. Neither Steven nor I moved.

"Steven, Suha." Garnet said and we looked towards them.

"Come on! That means you two right?" Amethyst said and we looked at each other and ran forward. Steven stood near Pearl while I took a spot near Garnet. Garnet placed her hands on our heads.

"You're a civilized part-Gem after all." Garnet said smiling.

"Garnet, are you sure we should bring them? This might be dangerous." Pearl asked.

"Peridot's got nothing we can't handle." Garnet said and the warp pad glowed, teleporting us to a different location. All of us jumped off the warp pad and walked around the Kindergarten.

"Well it looks like none of them have been activated." Pearl said, her gem's blue flashlight moving around the large Kindergarten. She ran her finger across the end of the injector. "It doesn't look like anything's budged since the last time we were here."

"You're right." Garnet agreed. "But just because Peridot hasn't been here yet doesn't mean she won't come. Let's do a thorough check of the perimeter. That way we can moditer any future entries."

"Sounds good to me!" Steven moved to a different section and I went the opposite way.

"Log Date 6-5-2." A familiar voice said. I turned around and noticed a square hole in the ground. Peridot moved upward on what seemed to be an all green surface that could change elevation. "This is Peridot updating status: still stuck on miserable planet. The fusion experiments are developing properly. A few have emerged early-" She looked over at me in shock. She looked around nervously. "Are the other ones with you?"

"No." I said, "What fusion experiments are you talking about?"

"Well that's none of your business now is it?" She said with the same monotone voice.

"Well I live on this planet so it is my business." I explained with a hand on my hips. She placed her floating fingers on her forehead.

"Peridot!" Garnet yelled as the other Gems were running forward.

"There she is!" Pearl yelled and Peridot ran away. I moved out of the way as the rest of them followed her. I took a step onto the green surface and watched as it went downward. I didn't even realize it at first, but it was the same elevator that took us to the Prime Kindergarten Control Room before. The lights were all off and there was still damage that was left from the Gems. There were cracks in what seemed to be the lights and long cylinders were scattered across the room. There was a small sound that came from one of them and I moved forward. I touched one of the cylinders and it started to rattle.

I took a step back in fear and felt something drop on my head. I felt tingers touch my eyebrows and nervously touched my head. The moment I touched it I noticed the room faded darker. 'Help..' Two broken voices whispered together. 'Form… Form… Where… form… help… please…' Other things began to fall on the ground and I pulled what was on my head off and stared in horror. There was a hand and a leg stuck together, it was blue and reddish pink in color.

They reached towards me and I tossed it on the ground. I looked around at the rest of the room as other things… stared to move towards me. I stepped backwards until I noticed I had my back on one of the cylinders. There was an explosion that pushed me on the ground and I watched in horror as a white light shot up from the broken cylinder. In the core of this thing were four gem shards stuck together. Four hands shot out together and the bodies of four Gems appeared.

I felt a deep pain in my head as the room lost most of its light besides the broken Gems. There was a scream that came from the white light and I echoes of voices filled my head. "Help! Help!" They repeated over and over again. I covered my eyes and watched in horror as the four gem fusion glitched forming a large white hand. The fingers reached forward towards me showing four arms and one food. The thing landed onto the ground showing its full self. It was comprised entirely of limbs conjoined together in a single hand-and-forearm-shaped body, wrapped in what looks like a dark gray cloth. At its core, the fusion is comprised of four different shattered Gem Shards that are physically fused together. It possesses four large eyes. Its irises and visible Gem Shards are green, yellow, blue and purple.

It walked forward towards me and hovered over. The rest of the limbs of the other gems were surrounding me. I closed myself into a ball as the voices began to grow louder and louder. "Please! Please!"

"Suha!" A voice yelled and saw Garnet and Steven running towards me. Garnet froze looking at the… gems as Steven ran forward. I watched as he poofed some of the gems but every time he did it screams followed. Tears ran down my face as I felt one of the giant gems hand grab my leg.

"Garnet!" Steven yelled. "Why aren't you moving?!" One of the hands grabbed my face and forced me to look at it in it's eyes. Another hand touched my Gem and I felt something inside my snap.

'It's all my fault. How could I let this happen? Why am I so useless?' A voice said in my mind. 'I wish I never-" I pushed the giant hand away and then all of the lights in the room faded. I was able to see the forced fusions' lights fade into gray and all of them poofed onto the ground. The colors of the room returned and all that was left were the shards of the Gems. I placed my hand towards one of the fused shards and watched as they cracked apart and faded into dusts

The looked back at the other gems shards and noticed as they did the same thing. A whisper of a single voice entered my head. 'We wish it didn't have to be this way, but thank you because now that we're dying we're free.'

Tears continued to fall down my eyes as I stared at what used to be the gem shards. In the corner were two hands conjoined together shaking in fear, the only shard that was left was the hand shard's four gems. Garnet walked forward and bubbled the hand-gem's shards and lifted them up.

"So this is what Homeworld thinks of fusion! We couldn't have known they'd would do this...! This is where they've been! All the ones we couldn't find! They've been here the whole time! Rose couldn't have known…! This was punishment for the rebellion! It's not our faults..!"

"Garnet!" Steven yelled and the bubbled shards disappeared.

"S-Steven…" Garnet stuttered.

"Yo! We're back!" Amethyst said running towards us with Pearl in front of her. None of them seemed to notice the lone green and blue conjoined hand on the ground.

"Garnet! We lost Peridot! Her fingers were too fast for us!" The conjoined hands walked up onto Amethyst. Pearl grabbed the hands.

"Um… what are these things?" Pearl asked.

"Put them down!" Garnet yelled, making everyone flinch. Pearl did as she said and the hand landed a few feet from the Garnet. It shook in fear. "We need to poof and bubble all of them! We can't let any escape!" Garnet bent down towards the hands and they ran towards me.

'No! No!' The hands mentally said to me. I already felt exhausted but hearing their voices made me feel even worse. I grabbed the hands and watched as the colors faded, then poof and disintegrate. 'Death, freedom…'

"What-" Pearl and Amethyst said in fear. I looked up at Garnet expecting anger but she had no expression on her face.

"I'm sorry…" I whispered. "They wouldn't leave me alone…" There was an air of silence and I heard feet walk towards me. I looked up and was surprised to see Pearl with her hand reaching out at me.

"Come on…" I placed my hand on hers and she pulled me forward. My hand began to fade gray and trail up to the rest of my body. Pearl released my hand as the rest of them Gems ran over towards me.

"Suha! What's happening to you?!" Steven yelled.

"I…." The gray had already reached my neck. "I don't feel-" I felt myself go numb and fall forward and then it went black.


	10. (10) Keystone Motel

"Who wants to go on a road trip?!" A voice yelled and I opened my eyes. I was back at the Beach House and noticed that pearl Amethyst and Garnet had very worrying expressions when looking at Greg.

"Um… is this a bad time?" Greg asked, holding a brochure.

" No." Garnet said walking forward. "Please continue."

"Well I gotta drive over to the next state, Keystone." Greg explains.

"You mean the Keystone state?" Pearl asks.

"Right." Greg agrees. "The state named Keystone. I met a guy on an internet message board who's selling car wash brushes for real cheap!" He puts the brochure back in his pocket. "I just gotta met him in Keystone and pick him up!"

"I don't like those brushes! They feel weird on your fur!" Steven explains.

"Well.. do you like motels?" Greg asks.

"Probably!" He yells happily.  
"Think you'd like to stay at a hotel with your favorite Dad?"

"I don't know if you're my favorite?" Steven says coily.

"Wha-huh?" Greg says disappointed. "Oh! You kidder come here!" Steven runs to Greg and his dad picks him up.  
"I can't wait to get room service!" Steven says happily.  
"You're thinking of a hotel, we're going to a motel." Greg says accenting the h and m. "It'll have a pool and free ice and it's right next to the best diner in the world!"

"I'm coming too." Garnet says stepping forward making Pearl look at her confused and hurt. What did I miss?  
"What?" Pearl asked and Steven smiles happily.  
"Even better!" Greg leans forward and whispers to Garnet.

"Hey Garnet I know I'm hyping this place up, but it's not The Ritzs."

"I'll be the judge of that." Garnet says smiling.

"Well.. in that case… Road trip!" Greg says smiling at Steven.

"Road trip!" Steven says pumping his fist into the air.

"Road trip." Garnet says.

"Wonderful! I'll make sure Amethyst knows…" Garnet ignored Pearl as she walks forward.

"Can I come too?…" I ask making everyone freeze. All eyes were on me as I jumped off my bed. The next thing I knew Garnet was hugging me. I looked up at her confused and was going to ask a question when I noticed her shaking slightly. Steven runs towards me and gives me a hug while Pearl smiles.

"You've been gone for so long!" Steven yells. "For over three weeks!" I stared at him in complete shock.

"Wait… what?"I ask confused and Steven pushing off me though Garnet was still holding on. I chose to ignore her, still surprised that she especially didn't hate me after…

"Yeah! You didn't have food or water! All of us were so worried! You were all gray and looked like you were dead if it wasn't for your breathing!" Steven explains and looks over at Greg. "Dad! Can Suha come too?!"

"Of course!" Greg says and I felt Garnet pick me up and without saying another word walks right out of the door.

"Garnet…" I say but she doesn't respond. A few moments later Greg and Steven lead us to the van. Steven took a seat in the passenger side while Greg drove. Garnet took the middle seat while I took the window. Steven and Greg spoke to each other happily while the back row was silent.

Some hours had passed until we made it to the motel. "Another great thing about motels! You can drive right up to your door!" Greg says happily as he opens the door to the motel. The room had two beds, a closet, and a bathroom. The bed area had a rustic cabin appearance with a deep picture and wooden back walls. The beds were multi-colored stripes in pattern and the left side of the wall had a window air conditioning unit, a door and a window with a curtain.

"I'm gonna swim in the pool, order a movie, get free ice! It's gonna be great!" Steven flopped onto the bed and Greg rushed over towards him.

"Not before we check for bed bugs it isn't." Garnet and I walked inside and she placed down the luggage.

"Good news! We're bug less!' Greg cheered and his phone vibrated. "Op, that's my crew!" He said as Garnet took a seat on the bed. "Do you mind holding down the fort til I get back?" Her right hand flapped around while her right hand gave a thumbs up.

"Great! I'm off to see a man about a tunnel brush!" Greg held the door. "An internet man? If I'm not back in an hour, call the police."  
"Okay!" Steven said and he closed the door.

"Suha! Garnet! Bounce with me! Or we could look at brochures! Ooh! Keystone Caburns."

"Calm down. I don't feel like forgiving Pearl!" Garnet started shaking. "You don't understand we must." She placed her hands on her sides. "If you're not going to listen then you can just go!" Garnet shined white for a split second and Ruby and Sapphire fell on the ground.

"You must move past this Ruby." Sapphire said looking the other way.

"She lied to us so we could form Sardonyx! She tricked us! Don't you feel used?!" Ruby asked, her voice getting higher with every second looking over at Sapphire.

"Ruby! Sapphire! I uh-" Steven said but paused.

"You're choosing to take it personally." Sapphire said calming looking over at her.

Ruby jumped up. "It's fusion, Sapphire! What's more personal to us than fusion?!"

"I know you're still upset.."

"Oh! So it's just me?!"

"Oh course not." Sapphire said. "Can't you see? I'm completely engulfed with rage."

"Well it doesn't feel like it!" Ruby said glaring at her. Sapphire pushed herself off the ground and levitated in the air.

"The sooner we forgive Pearl, the better it will be for all of us."

"You're not, as above this as you think you are!" Ruby yelled tears forming in her eyes but the moment she blinked the evaporated.

"Yes, I am." Sapphire stated sitting down on the bed. Ruby paced angrily around the room clutching her head. "You can't stay angry at her forever."

Ruby turned around and the carpet started smoking. "Wanna bet?"

"Ruby, the carpet." Ruby looked down and angrily walked out of the room, slamming the door. There was a pause.

"Nice to see you again?" Steven said.

"Nice to see you too." Sapphire and said Steven went to the bathroom to get changed into his swimming suit. I looked over at Sapphire but said nothing. Steven left the room and I followed him taking a seat outside as he tried to calm down Ruby, only for him to fail and walk back inside.

The night went Greg, Steven and I sleeping in the van. We went to a restaurant that was actually called "The Best Diner in the World, because Greg and Steven took up the booth I was forced to sit in between Ruby and Sapphire.

"Hey, thank you," Greg said as our server passed out the food.

"Thanks!" Said Steven.

"Thank you." I said. Ruby and Sapphire remained silent.

"What's the matter? Not hungry?" Greg asked, Ruby who was glaring at her food.

"Gems don't need to eat Dad." Steven explained.

"Garnet likes to eat sometimes-" Greg said but Ruby grunted angrily.

"Well Garnet's not here!" Ruby yelled pouting, though it was obvious she missed being Garnet. Greg tried to ease the tension but Ruby started shaking the table.

"You're shaking the table." Sapphire said and I made myself smaller.

"Oh? I'm kinda surprised you felt anything at all to be honest!"

"I didn't need to feel, I saw."

"Everythings! Just so Crystal Clear to you! Isn't it!" Ruby yelled angrily, shaking the table violently. Greg and Steven caught their food.

"This'll pass, she'll eventually burn herself out." Sapphire explained.

"That's what you think!" Ruby yelled standing up, her gloves appearing on her right hand. "I am an eternal flame baby!" She brought her fists down and broke the table. They began to argue even more and tears started forming in Steven's eyes. Greg tried to be positive but Sten dropped his plate on the ground. He walked away angrily.

"Aw geez…" Greg said and Sapphire and Ruby ran after him. "Are you alright?" I looked over at him.

"I'm confused." I explained to him. "But it's fine… I guess…" Greg gave me a look and paid for the food and the damages. I followed him out of the diner and Garnet returned smiling. We got some free ice and I looked out the car window aimlessly. Greg dropped us off at the Beach House and I took a chance to sit outside.

watch?v=5usQ44zs_4

Lost Boy Ruth B

There was a time when I was alone

Nowhere to go and no place to call home

My only friend was the man in the moon

And even sometimes he would go away, too

Then one night, as I closed my eyes

I saw a shadow flying high

He came to me with the sweetest smile

Told me he wanted to talk for awhile

He said, "Peter Pan, that's what they call me

I promise that you'll never be lonely," and ever since that day

I am a lost boy from Neverland

Usually hanging out with Peter Pan

And when we're bored we play in the woods

Always on the run from Captain Hook

"Run, run, lost boy," they say to me

Away from all of reality

Neverland is home to lost boys like me

And lost boys like me are free

Neverland is home to lost boys like me

And lost boys like me are free

He sprinkled me in pixie dust and told me to believe

Believe in him and believe in me

Together we will fly away in a cloud of green

To your beautiful destiny

As we soared above the town that never loved me

I realized I finally had a family

Soon enough we reached Neverland

Peacefully my feet hit the sand

And ever since that day

I am a lost boy from Neverland

Usually hanging out with Peter Pan

And when we're bored we play in the woods

Always on the run from Captain Hook

"Run, run, lost boy," they say to me

Away from all of reality

Neverland is home to lost boys like me

And lost boys like me are free

Neverland is home to lost boys like me

And lost boys like me are free

Peter Pan, Tinkerbell, Wendy Darling

Even Captain Hook, you are my perfect story book

Neverland, I love you so

You are now my home sweet home

Forever a lost boy at last

Peter Pan, Tinkerbell, Wendy Darling

Even Captain Hook, you are my perfect story book

Neverland, I love you so

You are now my home sweet home

Forever a lost boy at last

And for always I will say

I am a lost boy from Neverland

Usually hanging out with Peter Pan

And when we're bored we play in the woods

Always on the run from Captain Hook

"Run, run, lost boy," they say to me

Away from all of reality

Neverland is home to lost boys like me

And lost boys like me are free

Neverland is home to lost boys like me

And lost boys like me are free


	11. (11) Catch and Release

A few things happened in three weeks, such as getting a glimpse of a crazy child called "Onion", a play about the founding of Beach City which included the Gems, another meeting with Peridot which included her fake foot, Steven performing in a dress and Pearl and Garnet being back to normal. I spent most of my days laying around the Beach House or on the Beach. I was on a temporary break when it came to missions and socializing. The day started off normal and Steven and I were right about to go to sleep.

"Goodnight Happy Bear, goodnight Sad Bunny, goodnight Playful Kitty, goodnight ominous triangle at the foot of my bed." Steven said.

"Wait what?" There was a muffled sound and I saw Peridot running off with Steven, her height extending foot still missing from her right leg. Steven yelled angrily as Peridot took off with him on the warp pad. I ran after them and saw Steven being held down by a green force field by Peridot.

"Enough of this!" Peridot yelled and lifted Steven above the group, near the broken warp pad.

"Hey! Let go of Steven!" I yelled and tackled her to the ground. She screamed and Steven fell on the ground.

"Wait!" Steven yelled. "What do you want from me?!" Peridot pushed me off her and ran over to the broken warp pad.

"I want to get off this lousy gem forsaken planet!" She yelled angrily and pointed her fingers to the warp pad. "You have to fix this!"

"Wait what?!" Steven yelled and walked over towards her.

"Steven! What are you doing?!"

"You're my last chance! I've got no more flask robonoids! I've got no foot! I've got no response from Yellow Diamond! I know you fixed Lazuli's gem! Whatever you did you have to do it to the Homeworld warp! Or else!" She formed an electric green ball in her hand and I grabbed her foot, my gem grew and the color in her foot started to fade. "What the heck?!" Peridot dropped to the ground.

"Wait it's fine!" Steven yelled. "And I don't want you to use that power!"

"Why not?!" I yelled angrily. "It's not my fault I have this stupid power! So I'm going to use it when I want to!"

"Please Suha! I know you're angry but she's desperate!" Steven yelled and I angrily released her foot. The gray had already reached her waist. Peridot pushed herself away from me with the leg she could use.

"I can't feel my leg!" She yelled angrily and Steven licked his hand and raised it in the air.

"Here it goes!" He slapped his hand on the ground but nothing happened.

"What was that?!" She yelled. "That didn't do anything!"

"It doesn't always work." Steven said apologetically.

"No no no no no! It has to work!" Peridot screamed anxiously.

"I'm really sorry…" Steven apologized. Peridot started laughing sadly.

"This was my last shot… I'm gonna die here!" She started crying.

"Hey come on! Earth isn't that bad!'Steven said.

"It doesn't matter what Earth is like!" Peridot yelled angrily. "It's not going to be like anything soon!"

"What do you mean?" Steven and I asked. There was a high pitched sound and we looked over to see the warp pad on. Peridot groaned but I held onto her leg.

"Sorry you're not running away without answering the question." I said and Peridot's green rapidly turned to gray and she poofed, leaving behind her arms, fingers and leg enhancers.

I held her gem in my hand and placed it in my pocket. I looked over at her enhancements and pushed them into the water. With a push downward they disappeared.

"There he is!" Pearl yelled.

"Guys!" Steven said happily and Pearl hugged him.

"Wait you're here too?" Amethyst asked confused, I glared at her.

"Nice to know I was missed." I growled and stood up.

"What happened?!" Pearl yelled. I showed them Peridot's Gem.

"You're welcome." There were looks that showed obvious horror and disgust and I stood up. "I'm going back to sleep, Steven tell them what happened." I placed the Gem on the ground and watched as it turned back to normal. I take the warp pad back to the Beach House and sleep.

"Freedom is mine!" A voice yelled and I bumped my head on the ceiling.

"What the heck?!" I yelled and saw a very tiny form of Peridot. She was only about as tall as Ruby and Sapphire, who were only a little bit taller than Steven. The gems were sitting at the table with an open was standing near the Temple doors and the gems had a look of total surprise on their face. Peridot looks at them slowly and then at me. She quivers in fear and Steven runs over to her.

"Wait!" Steven yells. She points up in the air.

"Look over there! Another planet to betray!" Garnet gloves appear, Amethyst eats the pizza and Pearl glares. Sweat runs down her face. "Retreat!" She runs on all fours to the door but Garnet and Pearl block her with their weapons in hand.

"Oh no you don't!" Pearl yells, Peridot eeps and runs towards the bed where Amethyst was sitting on Steven's bed with her whip in her hands.

"Hey~" Amethyst says, Peridot yells runs to the other side of the upper level and falls to the ground.

"Get her!" Garnet yells and they run after her, Peridot runs into the bathroom and shuts the door.

"You may have won the war, but the battle isn't over Crystal Clods!" The Gems stare in shock and Steven runs over. Peridot laughs victoriously as the Gems weapons disappear.

"Should we tell her that's the bathroom?" Pearl asks.

"Does she even know what a bathroom is?" I ask. Amethyst moves over to the door and moves the knob.

"It's locked." Amethyst says and Garnet puts her fist on the door.

"Peridot open the door!" She yells. The door flushes.

"Uh… if you're trying to flush yourself down the toilet, it won't work!" There was a pause from Amethyst. "Trust me, I've tried."

"How did she get out? We bubbled her?" Pearl asked confused. I took one look at Steven's anxious face.

"Maybe we néed a bigger bubble." Amethyst says.

"My bubbles are fine." Garnet said crossing her arms.

"Steven did it." I said and the Gems glare up at me which I returned back. "Well he did!" They didn't change their expressions. "You guys never listen to me! It's only Steven this and Steven that!" I cover myself angrily with the blanket.

"Suha's right, I did do it." Steven says.

"Steven! Why would you do such a thing?!" Pearl yelled.

"Because she knows something! Something that's made her scared!" Steven explains.

"Duh, home girl knows we're going to beat her into a green pancake." Amethyst says.

"No! Not cause of us! But because of something known as… the Cluster." Steven says.

"Cluster? That's new…" Garnet says.

"What else did she tell you?" Pearl asked nervously.

"That's all I got…"

"That's right you dirt bombs! You don't even know what's coming!" I groan and put on my headphones, I know where this is going.


	12. (12) When It Rains

I watched as the Gems tried to force Peridot to talk about the Cluster but of course it didn't work. It seemed that they didn't understand that making Peridot scared didn't help our current situation as they left I watched from my bed as it started to rain and Peridot ran out from the bathroom and cling onto Steven. Steven explained to her what rain and thunder was and she seemed to find Steven more useful. Due to being on the top bunk and not speaking, Peridot seemed to forget that I even existed. Peridot told Steven to take her to the Kindergarten, Steven asked Peridot to wait for a minute and she went back into the bathroom.

"Hey, Suha…!" Steven whispered. "Want to come along?"

"I don't think Peridot would appreciate me coming with you." I explained. "Go have fun without me."

"Well… I know that even though your power is hard for me to understand, but I know that it's really useful, after all without you we wouldn't have been able to find out about the gem fusions and catch Peridot." He explained.

"Are you trying to convince me to come with you through compliments?" I asked him narrowing my eyes.

"Yes…" He said and I jumped off the bed.

"Alright I'm coming." I said. "But if Peridot sees me she'll freak."

"Well you can make yourself invisible right?" He said and I frowned.

"Just don't forget I'm here.." I said and with a quick glow of my Gem I was gone.

"That's so cool..!" Steven whispered. "Alright Peridot I'm ready." Peridot walked over towards Steven. "We can go to the Kindergarten-"

"Yes!" Peridot cheered.

"But…"

"No! A catch… Fine! What are your demands?!" She asked angrily.

"You're gonna have to hold my hands the whole time." Steven smiled and Peridot angrily grabbed his hand and they walked to the warp pad. I walked over towards them, careful not to touch Peridot and gave Steven a nudge. With that we arrived back at the Kindergarten. Peridot dragged Steven to where we wanted to go.

"This place just gets worse every time I come here." Steven said.

"I know, it's been so poorly managed." She looked over at Steven. "It must've been in way better shape when you first emerged."

"Emerged?" Steven asked.

"Yeah, you're some kind of Quartz right?" She stopped moving looking around. "You must've been made here."

"Uh, I came from my mom and dad." Steven said.

"Are those some kinds of rocks?" Peridot asked confused. "Or another planet?"

"Nope." Steven laughed. "My Dad's from Earth but my Mom's a Gem." He showed his gemstone.

"You're some sort of hybrid? How is that possible?"

"The story to that is a ballad I like to call "The Story of Rose and Greg."" Steven said happily. Peridot placed her hand up in a stop motion.

"I don't care." Peridot said. "But I am curious about that other Gem around you."

"Which one? I know Amethyst is from Earth and I think Pearl and Garnet are from Homeworld."

"I don't care about that defective Pearl and fusion weapon, I mean the dark grey, brown one. She's very intriguing." Steven paused and looked down at his other hand that I was holding. I gave his hand a squeeze and he nodded.

"We'll Pearl thought she was some kind of human and Serendibite hybrid, but now no one really seems sure anymore…" Steven mutters.

"A Serendibite? Her? Impossible. Honestly Serendibites have been discontinued since late Era One. I'm not entirely sure why but all those that were left were used throughout the war, they've been discontinued for years and judging by her actions she doesn't seem very old. I'm more curious of her strange powers.."

"She has a lot of different powers and probably more to come. If you mean what happened before I'm not sure what it actually does." Steven looks around. "Where are we going?"

"To the Prime Kindergarten Control Room." Peridot explains.

"You sure this is safe? Last time I was here there was a bunch of fusion monsters." Steven asks.

"Yes, I was checking their progress." She says.

"What's the deal with those things?" Steven asks as they slide down due to the elevator no longer being of any use.

"When it became clear that the Earth was no longer a viable colony, Homeworld decided to use it for something else: a series of experiments. A Gem geo-weapon." They made it to the center of the room.

"Oh? Did you help?" Steven asked.

"Negative. I wasn't lucky enough to be around for that. But I read a few hundred years of reports!" Peridot laughs and walks over to the right side of the room.

"This is where you need to be right?" Steven asks as she leads him over.

"Yes! I'm going to have to remove this panel to return power to this room so…" She narrows her eyes. "Can I have my hand back now?"

"Steven releases her hand and mine. "Okay! But stay where I can see you!" Peridot touches the blue wall and the outline of a square appears. She pulls onto the panel but she was unable to get it open."It's over.. I can't show you anything, let's go back."

"Mind if I try?" Steven asks smiling.

"Go ahead, know yourself out." Peridot says and walking away crossing her arms. Steven bends down and with one pull he was able to open the panel, showing a bunch of blue and green cords. Peridot exclaims in shock.

"There you go!" Steven says and they trade spots.

"Alright.." Peridot says and puts her knees on the ground. "This over here-" The lights true on and the green and blue light reappear. "It's not perfect, but it'll deal for now." She groans and tries to reach the green hand print. "Come on!" As Steven tries to help Peridot I touch the hand which had a yellow diamond on it. It lights up yellow and different files appear."Woah! It's on! But how?!"She takes a deep breath and laughs. "Maybe it could feel my amazing presence!"

"Suha…" Steven mutters anxiously and the hand lowers itself.

"These are the early attempts at artificial fusion." Peridot explains.

"That's a lot of gem shards..!" Steven whispers.

"We were growing them here at this very site, but these were just prototypes for the final product." Peridot presses a button and the Earth appears showing something bright yellow with a white diamond on it. "A single, giant artificial fusion comprised of millions of gem shards. The Cluster."

"Peridot, you're saying… there's a giant mutant gem the size of the Earth under us right now?!" Steven asks panic in his voice.

"Oh no, when it forms it'll be much, much bigger than the Earth. Right now it lies dormant, incubating in the Earth's core. But when it emerges and takes its physical form it will destroy the planet. The prototypes are already emerging, the Cluster is next. If we can't get off this planet we've got to stop the Cluster!"

Steven sweats anxiously as Peridot looks at him. "I'd thought it be impossible but now we have a chance."

"What is it?" He asks and Peridot places her hands on his shoulders.

"It's you Steven!" She says happily and all of us climb out of the Control Room. "Now that your filled in, we can get to work!"

"Uh… how am I supposed to help?" Steven asked.

"Well, you have all the information we need about Earth's erratic behavior. But that together with my extensive knowledge of the Cluster and we just might be able to stop it!" She says walking back towards the warp pad.

"No Peridot I don't think you get it!" Steven says chasing after her. "Just because I know how clouds work doesn't mean I know how to stop a giant mutant in the center of the Earth! Besides, the only reason I know about stuff like clouds and rain is because my Dad told me."

"What are you talking about?" Peridot asks stopping

"I used to be really scared of thunderstorms, just like you. Then Dad explained how rain and all that stuff works, then I wasn't scared of rain anymore."

"Well I'm sure you have other knowledge about how this planet works." Peridot says confidently.

"Sure, but none of it is gonna help us. If we wanna stop this Cluster thing then we'll need help from the Crystal Gems." Steven says.

"I said I don't need them! Let's just warp me back to the bathroom or whatever you call it and we'll take care of this! If it looks really bad, then we can just ask this 'Dad' for help right?" There was a broken scream that echoed across the Kindergarten walls. 'Form! Form!'

I clutched my head in pain and my invisibility cloak disappeared. "You! You followed us!"  
"Duh!" I yelled angrily. "But we have a bigger problem!"

"Gem mutants!" Steven puts me and Peridot in a bubble and we run away from them. There were six, large Gem mutants that were chasing us but we ended up being cornered. We panicked as the Gem's got closer.

"Leave us alone!" I yelled angrily.

"Help! Help! Help!" Different voices screamed.

"Hang on!" Garnet's voice yelled as the Gems appeared and poofed all of the mutants.

"Peridot, there's no way we can stop this thing in the Earth on our own, we need the help of the Crystal Gems." Peridot looks at him nervously and the Gems jump over to us.

"Steven are you alright?!" Pearl yelled and I looked at the ground.

"Move aside Steven." Peridot says and pushes Steven behind her.

"Peridot!" Amethyst yelled gritting her teeth.

"What are you three doing here?!" Pearl yelled angrily.

"Steven I thought I told you to keep an eye on her." Garnet asked.

"I know but-"

"He did what he was told!" Peridot says and looks back at Steven and then back at the Gems. "Alright… listen up you clo- Crystal Gems. I made up my mind. I have something to tell you about the Cluster."


	13. (13) Steven's Birthday

After Peridot explained what exactly the Cluster was to the others, we moved to the Barn. A few interesting developments happened such as finding out that Pearl was some kind of servant without any free will of her own, that Amethyst is apparently defective and how Garnet became well Garnet. Pearl and Peridot had a class over who should lead the building of the machine to get the Cluster, so to solve this dispute Steven suggested a robot fight. As the two of them were tied, Peridot wouldn't allow herself to be seen on the same level as Pearl using violence to solve the problems that she had with her own self image.

Although Pearl did lose, I gained a new understanding for her and found myself looking up to her. Although it seemed that Peridot was officially the winner, Peridot apologized to Pearl and allowed them to be co leads on the project, though if you asked me Garnet always seemed to call all the shots.

Steven, Amethyst, Peridot and I went to the Kindergarten to grab a piece from an Injector and because Amethyst called Peridot funny and enjoyed the mean jokes she made about others including myself, Peridot began to explain that Amethyst was born as a soldier and explained that Peridot was supposed to be the same height as Jasper. Apparently Amethyst came out about five thousand years later than the other Amethysts which meant that she was alone and didn't know who she 's self hatred seemed to be confirmed by Peridot. The part that we took from the Injector went crazy and Peridot saved Amethyst's life from the drill. Peridot apologized to Amethyst through her recorder and called Amethyst "The Best Gem". Amethyst accepted her apology.

It was Steven's birthday when Garnet explained how Ruby and Sapphire met. Sapphire was a diplomatic Gem and was assigned with three Rubies. Sapphire was called to Earth by Blue Diamond so that she could explain the future. Ruby stopped Sapphire from being poofed by Pearl and Rose and they transformed into Garnet. Apparently a fusion between two Gems was too unnatural and Sapphire ran away with Ruby because Blue Diamond wanted to shatter them. Rose accepted Garnet which allowed Ruby and Sapphire to accept each other.

We were taking a break on the drill and Connie arrived with Greg at the barn. Connie wore a beautiful red dress and a white hat with a pink bow around it. "Steven!" "Connie!"

"Happy Birthday!" Connie said, giving him a big hug. Connie explained how over protective her parents were and Greg gave his son a big hug. Greg explained that Steven was fourteen and apparently Connie didn't even know. Connie was twelve and three quarters. Once Steven hit the age of eight he stopped growing.

"So he's not going to grow up." Connie said taking a seat in the van with Greg as Steven hid by the open door listening.

"We'll it's hard to say, he's a gem and gems don't really grow up. I mean, I've known the Gems since I was twenty two and they never changed. They just are what they are, but Steven's not like the other gems he's half human, so I'm not really sure how he's gonna age. We're just gonna have to wait and see."

"Yes, right." Connie said.

"Are you okay?" Greg asked.

"Yeah, yeah…" Connie said looking away.

"Human beings?" Greg said with his hand in the air. Connie smiled and gave him a high five.

"Human beings." She said and they got out of the car and Steven ran farther away so they wouldn't know he's been spying on them. Greg and Connie waved Steven and I over and I followed.

"What up?" I asked, though I knew what they were going to ask.

"Well you're half gem right?" Connie said.

"Apparently?" I said shrugging. "If you're going to ask if I've been growing, yes I am. I'm not sure why, maybe it depends on the hybrid."

"Did you ever stop?" Steven asked nervously.

"I mean not really? My height is only a few inches taller and but my face has always been changing. I've always looked young for my age but that's the same for most humans isn't it?" I asked.

"I guess so." Connie said.

"I'm gonna go help set up the banner." Steven said and walked away. I watched as Amethyst shapeshifted and narrowed my eyes.

"We'll I'm sure he'll figure it out." Greg gave Steven his crown and robe and closed the barn doors. Garnet grabbed the cake and we all said "Surprise-"

"Oh." Garnet said Steven was some inches taller than he was before and I realized what he had done.

"You look older." I told him narrowing my eyes and he looked at me nervously.

"Well I guess I just got taller." He said, his voice was deeper than it was before. I walked over to him and leaned near his ear.

"Have fun, but you can't hold it forever…" I whispered in his ear and walked away as everyone congratulated him. Connie gives Steven her present which was a pink shirt, but he was unable to fit it because he grew taller. I watched as Steven played badminton with Connie, Pearl and Amethyst. It was going well until Amethyst hit the birdie into a tree. Connie runs over to grab it but Steven jumps up onto the branch and gets it down. His hand shrinks and he puts it back to the stretched out version.

"Steven.." I say and he looks over at me sweating. "It's been over two hours man, give it up. There's nothing wrong with not getting older."

"You don't understand!" Steven says angrily. "I… I just want to grow up with Connie… It's not fair that she has to deal with me not getting older.."  
"Steven if she can't accept you for the way you are then she's not worth it." I tell him.

"Steven come on!" Connie yells waving him over. He glances at me and runs back over. I sigh and the day continues on, Steven somehow still having the stretch to continuously stretch his body. I felt mixed emotions about what was going on, I was gaining a new sense of respect for Steven, him being half human and able to stretch out his body for almost an entire day… but also I couldn't help but feel worried about him. He shouldn't injure himself just so Connie can feel better.

Steven and Connie danced together but Steven was still sweating bullets. "Steven.." I muttered.

"Why do you keep looking at Steven?" Amethyst asked me and I felt myself blush.

"That's none of your business!" I yell angrily as Connie leans on Steven's chest with her leg raised and a content look on her face. Steven freezes, blushing and looks over at Pearl and Garnet smiling at them.

"Are you jealous?" Amethyst asks.

"Of course I'm not!" I say angrily and stomp away from her. Of course… I'm not… It's not like Steven was my friend first and it's obvious he likes Connie… He's just Steven, nothing more nothing less. I hear crying and look over to see Connie holding… is that Steven? I run over and see baby Steven crying.

"Oh my god! Steven I told you not to do this!" I yell angrily as she passes him over to me.

"We were just talking and then all of a sudden-" Connie says panicking.

"He turned back into a baby?!" Pearl asks freaking out.

"Yes!" Connie agrees.

"Dude… I told you! Stretching your body out for that long is not good for you!" Amethyst says. Steven tries speaking but of course it's just baby talk. Amethyst takes Steven and shows him to Pearl.

"Here you go Pearl!" She says,

"No no! Don't give him to me!" Pearl says leaning away from Steven.

"Hand him over to me Amethyst." Garnet says and her visor disappears.

"Here you go.." Amethyst says and Garnet takes him. Steven stares at Garnet as her red, purple and blue eyes open one by one. She gives Steven a wide smile and sticks out her tongue. Steven stares at her confused and he continues to cry.

"My powers mean nothing to an infant." She says defeated.

"Well he's still Steven right?" I ask. "He still has his memories, didn't he almost age himself to death? Isn't this the same thing?"

"Well whatever it is, this is my area of expertise." Greg says and takes Steven from Garnet.

"What are you going to do?" Connie asks.

"Don't worry I've got this." Greg says and Amethyst turns herself into a car seat and places herself in the middle seat as Greg puts him down. Connie climbs in the front and Greg drives away.

"Steven…" I say. They come back to the barn after a few hours to grab any necessary baby stuffy for Steven.  
"Everyone look at this!" I heard a familiar high pitched voice say and run out of the barn. There was normal Steven wearing the pink shirt Connie gave him with a tiny amount of facial hair. I smile as everyone congratulates Steven. He walks over to me and puts his hand on his head.

"Hey sorry about before, I should have listened to you." He says and I give him a small smile and place a hand on his shoulder.  
"I'm just happy that you're back to normal." He smiles and runs back over to everyone else. Connie gives Steven a hug and I couldn't help but focus on my aching heart.

It's fine.


	14. (14) It Could've Been Great

Steven thought Peridot what exactly singing was and also showed that he had perfect pitch. Everyone sang a beautiful song about the important things in life and soon enough the drill was finished. We stared up at the drill in awe. Garnet pats Peridot on the back making her freak out. "Nice work Peridot." The Gems laugh at Peridot's reaction and it seemed like everyone was finally used to her. Steven hugs Peridot as she looks down at the ground.  
"We really did it huh?" Peridot says in shock and Steven gasps.  
"We?" He asks happily and Peridot freezes and moves away from Steven.  
"Oh wait!" She runs over and climbs into the drill. "I need to check something!"  
"She's come so far, it feels like yesterday she was trying to kill us." Steven says happily.

"No no that was several weeks ago." Pearl explains.

"Where are the coordinates?!" Peridot asks, sticking her head out of the opening. "We still need the Cluster's exact coordinates in order to drill!"

"There's a Diamond base that may hold that information…" Pearl says. "But getting there is going to be difficult."  
"How come?" Steven and I ask.

"Because it's not accessible by warp pad. And it's on…!" She puts her hand on her forehead and looks up. All of us look up at the moon.

"The moon!" Steven says happily.

"Yes Steven the moon." Pearl says and we watch as Steven asks Lion to get us to the moon. Lion's eyes glow pink and all of us get on top of the Lion. Garnet was in the rear holding Pearl, who was holding me, I was holding Amethyst, Amethyst was holding Steven and Steven was holding Peridot. Both Steven and Peridot were inside Lion's mane. Lion runs down a hill and roars opening up a pink portal.

"Pretty cool right?!" Steven yells and Peridot screams. Lion roars three times, each roar increasing the speed that we were traveling at. All of us scream as we enter a dark room and Lion hits the back wall. Steven checks on Lion while Peridot hurries off Lion. Pearl and Garnet use their gems as flashlights and all of us look around the Moon Base. "It doesn't look like the moon."

"Hey look over here I think it's a door!" Amethyst runs over and presses her hand on a scanner which had four diamonds on it. A large gush of wind hits us room as we see the Earth far away in the distance.  
"We're definitely on the moon." I say.

"Amethyst please!"Pearl yells. "Don't blow us into space!" Steven laughs and Pearl aims her gem flashlight at him, he was floating up into the air near a large yellow mural. The room that we were in was on the lowest level, there were four diamond symbols on the floor with each color directed towards a mural. The Mural showed a tall figure with what seemed to be spiky hair with a very sharp body. The eye was visible was yellow and there was a yellow diamond on her chest. She was wearing a dress and had a lot of planets around her upper body which were all painted yellow.

Steven laughs happily. "Whoa, look at me! I'm a-" He jumps very high into the air. "Moon boy!" Amethyst runs over to Steven and tries to be a moon boy as well but it didn't work. Steven jumps up into the air again near a different statue. "Moon boy quadruple backflip!" The other mural was blue and she had nine planets around her. She reminded me a bit of a ghost and had blue hair that went down to her waist. She had a blue diamond on her chest and her eyes were blue as well. She wore a long, flowy dress that had a missing sleeve. Her body was almost as pointed as the other one.

Peridot walks over towards Amethyst. "Hey, why can't I be a moon boy?" Amethyst whines.

"We're Gems? We're a space-faring race designed to conquer other worlds. Our physical forms adjust automatically to the gravity of any planetoid." Peridot explained. Steven jumps over and hits the wall and collapses to the ground.

"Hey Peridot! Who is this supposed to be?!" Steven asks and I walked over towards him, my body remained the same weight as it did on Earth. I notice the Gems stare at me in shock but I ignore them. Peridot runs over to Steven and gasps.  
"It's Blue Diamond!" She says happily and turns around. "Wait! Are they all here?! Ah yes there she is!" Peridot runs over to the yellow figure.

"Who?" Steven asks.

"Behold! Yellow Diamond! Isn't she magnificent?!" Steven and I follow Peridot.

"Wow... so who are the Diamonds anyway? They seem like a big deal." Steven asks. Peridot looks over in shock and starts smiling.

"Are you joking me?! The Diamonds are the Gem matriarchs! Together they make up the Great Diamond Authority that governs Homeworld and all the outlying colonies! We live to serve them!" Garnet walks over and clears her throat, making Peridot freeze and her gem flashlight disappear. Peridot laughs nervously. "I mean, we were all made to serve them, even though some of us... don't anymore…" She pauses and looks to the side of the room. "Hey, I think that's a control service over there!" She points and walks over. "Let's take a look."

There were two other murals that I wanted to take a look at. One was pink and had a pink diamond on her stomach right where Steven had his. Her appearance was very spiky and she had large and jagged hair that spiked in different directions. She had two planets in her hand, one much bigger and the other much smaller. She had pink eyes as well as her entire body being all pink. I guessed that she was Pink Diamond, after all there were four different diamond symbols on the ground.

The next mural was all white and had a white diamond centered on her forehead. Her body was white and so were her eyes. She had spiky hair that spiked upwards and a complicated dress on with spiky shoulder pads. Her hands were centered around one planet although she had the most planets around her head than the rest of the Diamonds She must be White Diamond then, the planets formed around Yellow, Blue and White Diamonds heads like a halo.

There was a soft high pitched sound and I felt myself being raised high above the ground. I clung onto the ground and noticed they formed into stairs. "Peridot!" I yelled angrily, noticing how much higher I was than them.

"It wasn't on purpose!" She yelled and Stevens started jumping up the stairs with Peridot behind him then Garnet, Amethyst and Pearl. Pearl kept her gem light on making sure they focused on Steven. "This is so incredible. Only the most elite of the elite can enter these sanctums. We are literally walking in the footsteps of the diamonds!"

I walked forward passing the tall White Diamond statue on the way up with Steven walking close behind me. We reached a room that had patterns of circles on the wall. They looked like star maps and there was an orb in the middle of the room. The orb was levitating above the ground and had blue light around it. I walked forward towards the orb and was about to touch it when Garnet called my name.

"Sorry." I said and Steven and I followed behind them. Once we reached the top of the stairs we entered a mostly white room that had a central computer in the walls were clear and were in the shape of diamonds. There were pink and blue stairs that led up to a pointed throne of a chair with a long block of white rock. The room was covered by a geodesic dome that allowed for a scenic view of the Earth. I follow after Peridot and Garnet and take a seat on the chair. The back of the chair had diamonds on it. Garnet, Amethyst, Pearl and Peridot huttle over the computer and Steven takes a seat by me.

"Oh my goodness! This looks like it could be brand new! I mean it's a relic by today's standards, but, golly! It's so elegant, so simple, so perfect!" Peridot says happily.

"So how do you turn it on?" Amethyst asks.

"... I have no idea." I look over to Steven and notice him placing his hand on the hand scanner while on the other hand was what seemed to be a diamond. It lights up with Steven's hand and everyone stares at it in shock.

"Hey, it's got one of those glowy hand dealies." Steven says happily.

"YOU CAN'T SIT THERE!" Peridot yells at us.

"Why not?' I ask.

"That chair is only for the most elite Gems, you can't go around sitting where an elite would sit." She explains and I scoot over to the left hand side and Steven scoots over to the right hand side. Steven and I smile at Peridot and pat the open seat.

"Well they aren't here now, right?" Stevens says and she glances around and sits in the middle, snickering to herself. I grab the white diamond and twirl it around.

"Put that back!" Peridot yells at me and I roll my eyes and do as she says. Peridot places her hand on the hand scanner and scans her finger across four squares making the chair move forward.

"There we go. This is a really old system." She says and puts on a screen on the control panel, shocking seven files that are all diamond shaped. "Gotta find the right file... aha! Cluster, Cluster where are you, Cluster? Aha! There's the insertion point. Looks like the Beta Kindergarten in Facet Nine. It's the smaller of the two, not nearly as impressive as yours, Amethyst."

"Uh… thanks?" Amethyst says.

"But where is the Cluster now?" Pearl asks, losing her patience.

"Hang on... there it is! It's embedded deep into the mantle, relative to the barn its roughly two thousand five hundred units down. All we need to do is feed this data to the drill and we should be all set." Peridot explains.

"That's it then! Mission accomplished!" Pearl says happily and Steven cheers in agreement.

"Great…" Amethyst says and the Crystal Gems start walking away. "Let's get out of here…"

"Hold on!" Steven says ato Peridot. "Does this thing have any games on it?"

"No no no no, this wasn't used for 'games'. '' Peridot said.

"What was it used for?" I asked.

"It was used for planning a colony. Here, look." Peridot pulls the map of Earth up on screen. The Gems pause and look up. "So here is a map of all structures that were originally built on Earth. All told, this probably only accounts for maybe, five percent of what was originally planned." She showed the Lunar Sea Spire, Ancient Sky Arena, Sea Shrine, Sky Spire, Communication Hub, Galaxy Warp and two other structures that I didn't recognize.

"What was the plan?" Steven asked.

"Well, let's take a look." She holds down a button and the Earth hollows out, showing rings and Gem structures around the planet.  
"Wow…" I say in a mixture of awe, shock and horror.

"Ta-da! A finished Earth colony. Wow, look at this! Eighty-nine kindergartens, sixty-seven spires, a Galaxy Warp in each facet, efficient use of all available materials. What were you thinking, shutting this operation down? It could've been great!" Peridot says happily.

"No you're wrong!" Garnet yells at all of them stare at Peridot angrily.

"What do you mean? It's perfect! Look at it!" Peridot explains confused.

"Peridot.." I whisper hoping she'll stop talking, this was going from bad to worse in a matter of seconds.

"We are looking at it."Pearl says angrily.

"Yeah, this plan stinks!" Amethyst yells, folding her arms.

"Completing this colony would have meant the extinction of all life on Earth!" Garnet yells angrily.

"But think of the good it would have done. The Gems that would have been made, our Empire expanded." Peridot explained. I could understand both points of the argument. The Crystal Gems which meant saving the Earth and Homeworld's which meant creating new life. I couldn't help but wonder what kind of Gem's would've been created if Homeworld's plan came true, but I probably wouldn't be here either. Neither would Steven.

"Rose Quartz believed all life was precious, and worth protecting." Pearl said sharply.

"Well if she wanted to protect it, she did a lousy job! There'd be no Cluster if the Earth had stayed a colony. Now there's no colony, and there's gonna be no Earth, so thank you, Rose Quartz! You doomed the planet!" Peridot yelled angrily, standing up on the chair glaring at them. The Crystal Gems glared at Peridot agrily. Peridot folds her arms not budging from their looks.

Steven laughs nervously and stands near Peridot. "Is there anything that's worth more than- '' But Garnet stands in front of Peridot, her shadow looming ominously over the three of us. Garnet grabs Peridot by her shirt and lifts her up the ground. Peridot tenses in fear as Garnet glares at her. I follow Peridot in fear.

"Garnet, stop!" Steven yells lifting his hands up in the air. "Please! It's not worth 're done here, let's just... go home." Garnet aggressively drops Peridot on the chair and brings her left gauntlet together above her head and smashes the control panel. The hologram disappears, showing the normal Earth instead. The Gems walk away not looking back and Steven gets off the chair and stares at them as they reach the stairs. He sighs.

"What did I say?" Peridot asked confused, following Steven. " I'm just stating a fact. The Rebellion didn't really save Earth, it just delayed the inevitable."

"That's not the way they see it." Steven said. "They've spent thousands of years trying to protect the Earth. I thought maybe, you finally understood why." Steven walks down the stairs and Peridot puts her hands on her hips. She turns around and notices that I'm still sitting on the chair. I grab the diamond and place it in my pocket. Feeling a strange sense of nostalgia and urgency hit me.

"Hey-"

"Peridot Suha!" Steven yells and I stick my tongue out at Peridot and climb down the stairs.

"What? I'm coming." Peridot says and climbs down the stairs after me.  
"Let's go, you three." Garnet says and I notice Steven stare at me and frown. Peridot follows right behind.


	15. (15) Message Received

Once we're back at the barn I follow Peridot, watching her sneak into the barn by herself. I take out the diamond in my pocket and show it to her. "Hey Peridot, what do you want this for?" I ask her, narrowing my eyes.

"No reason!" She says nervously and eyes the diamond. I toss it up in the air and she screams. "Wait no! I'll tell you!" I catch it and smirk.

"That was easy." I said and walked over to her. She grabs my hand quickly and hids the diamond behind my back. "What're you-"  
"Steven!" Peridot says and I turn around to see Steven standing in the barn entrance.

"What are you doing here Steven?" I ask him.

"I need to talk to you. Both of you." He says.

"Uhhh, yeah! Sure!" Peridot says and Peridot gets into the back of the truck while Steven sits in the driver and I in the passenger. Steven closes the door and glares as I place the diamond in my pocket. I give him an annoyed look as Peridot asos "Why are we in this broken-down vehicle?"

"I wanted to ask you…" He pauses staring at my pocket and I cross my arms, he goes to look over at Peridot. "about the Diamonds?"

Peridot visibly relaxes. "Oh! I don't know what the others have told you, but there's a reason they're in charge." She says happily, leaning forward.

"Why's that?" Steven asks, monotone though Peridot doesn't notice.

"They're objectively better than us. Every Gem has their strengths and weaknesses, but not them. They're absolutely totally completely flawless beings! Especially my diamond, Yellow Diamond, the most perfect, the most reasonable, rational, efficient decider ever to exist in the universe!" Peridot says happily, though hearing her talk like that was making me feel sick to my stomach.

"You're really loyal to her, aren't you?" Steven asks sadily.

"How could I not be? We might have our little truce, but I'll never forsake the Gem I was made for!"

"That's good, because... she's right behind you!" Steven grabs my hand as Peridot turns around and pulls us out of the car.

"WHAT?!" Peridot says in shock, he presses the lock and locks her inside. He slams the door as Peridot tries to run out. Peridot whimpers, in a mixture of shock and fear as Steven glares at her.

"Save your strength! You're up against one of the earth's greatest trapping technologies, the child safety lock!" Steven yells at her. Peridot gasps and looks around the car in fear. She cowers in the driver's seat.

"Oh, no! How could you do this to me, the great and lovable Peridot?! I thought we were finally friends like you wanted…" Peridot falls to the ground in defeat as Steven looks away.

"I saw you try to sneak whatever Suha's holding off the Moon Base!" Steven yells. "What is it?!" Peridot's eyes narrow. "Tell me!"

"It's nothing special. And definitely not important at all." Peridot says angrily and I take it out of my pocket.

"Why'd you take that from her?" Steven asks me. "And why didn't you tell me?"

"I was trying to confront her myself." I explain. "And I wasn't sure if you even trusted me not to betray you guys, ever since what happened in the Kindergarten, no one's been treating me the same! All of you look at me like I'm some kind of monster! I didn't ask for these powers, Steven!"

"I never thought you were a monster!" Steven yells. "And you're right I have been treating you differently…" He looks down ashamed. "After seeing what happened to those shards and how your powers work, I couldn't help but feel defensive… And… I lied to you…"

"About what?" I asked, hurt.

"I remember everything, I never forgot! When I tried to get you to meet my Dad and I pushed you too hard and you accidentally used your powers on me!" Steven tells me. "I'm always there when you sing by yourself and you think no one's listening to you… I'm sorry for being afraid of your powers but I can't help it, it doesn't help it that we're not as close as I wish we were. You're my friend and I don't care if you're a hybrid like me, human like Connie or a full Gem, I just wish you wouldn't try to do things by yourself and talk to me first!"

"Steven…" I said and was about to say something else to him but I was interrupted.

"If you guys wanna talk, can you do it somewhere elses?" Peridot asked obviously annoyed and I glared at her. I show her the diamond and start focusing on the item, my gem starts to glow and it slowly starts to fade.

"If you don't want me to destroy this thing, you'd better explain what this thing is Peridot!" I yell.

"Nonononono, wait!" Peridot slams her body into the window to show how frantic she was. "All right, look. I have a plan. Allow me to explain... It's... a communicator. Meant for the express purpose of contacting the Diamonds back on Homeworld."

"You're still trying to contact Homeworld/ the Diamonds?" Steven and I ask, moving closer to the door. She sits back down on the seat.

"Yes, of course! I figured it out. You simple clods keep trying to protect the earth, but you can't do anything right! I let myself get carried away, too... laughing, singing, building our little machine... but don't you see? None of that matters! All that matters is that I'm of use to Yellow Diamond! This planet can be of use to Yellow Diamond! I must contact her, to reveal what I've discovered!" Peridot says.

"Peridot…" I say, a sense of melancholy hitting me watching her speak about the Diamonds with such respect. She almost sounds brainwashed.

"But the Diamonds are bad! They don't care about the earth! They wanted to hollow it out, and now they wanna blow it up with the Cluster!" Steven yells and I take a seat on the tire, feeling extremely tired.

"Yes, yes! That's the point!" Peridot yells happily.

Steven groans."Why do I keep sticking my neck out for you? You're never gonna be on our side! Garnet! Amethyst! Pearl!" He grabs my hand and drags me out of the barn.

"Steven, no! Don't get them. Steven! Release me!" We hear Peridot yell, but Steven closes the door and we leave her behind. Steven and I show the Gems the communicator and Garnet tries to console Steven's sadness. It doesn't take long for Peridot to burst out of the barn and she destroys it with her robot machine from her fight with Pearl. The Crystal Gems run towards Peridot as Steven groans in anger.

"Steven this isn't your fault, just like Garnet said, you tried you best." I told him and he looks up at me happily only for his expression to change to shock.``Why are you-" I felt my body lift up, meters off the ground and scream in fear. I look up and notice that Peridot's robot arms were holding the communicator and me with it. "PERIDOT!" I scream in fear as she runs toward. Amethyst transforms herself into a helicopter and I see everyone inside, as the robot crashes into an electrical line, thanks to Garnet and Pearl, I and the communicator crash away from the rest of them. As I crash landed on the ground, I felt my hands accidentally move the diamond and it glows yellow. The ground around it turns yellow as well and it floats into the sky.

"HIDE!" A voice yells a yellow figure appears.

"This is the Yellow Diamond control room." A voice that sounds a lot like Pearl's say, but more nasally.

I see a clear view of her. She looked a lot like Pearl except all yellow. She wore a beige singlet, with a neckline that was cut into a diamond shape in the middle and exposing her legs. She wore puffy, sheer yellow sleeves, as well as long, pale tangerine stockings and canary yellow flats. She had a yellow pixie haircut that is styled up to a point and very similar to Pearls, with puffy sides and one diamond shaped lock in the middle of her forehead. She had pale yellow skin and her head was oval shaped. Her gemstone was a very pale yellow cabochon pearl, and was located on her chest.

She stares at me confused. "Who authorized you to make this call?" She asked me and I still had nothing to stay, I felt a hand push me back and I followed it. Peridot was standing in front of me.

"No one, b-but it's an emergency!" Peridot says.

"That's no excuse to use the direct Diamond communication channel." She says.

"Pearl." An oddly familiar voice that sent a chill down my spine.

"Yes, my Diamond?" Yellow Pearl says, in fear.

"Why is there someone on the Diamond line?" Yellow Diamond asks.

"I don't know. I was just about to tell them that-" But she was interrupted a dark yellow hand comes into view

"I'll take it from here." I held my breath as I saw Yellow Diamond. She was massive in size, her height dwarfing the Yellow Pearl, even watching her from here was obvious. She had black markings around her eyes, bright yellow eyes with diamond shaped pupils and black eyebrows, and short-helmet like bob yellow hair with two spiked tips. Her gemstone was located on her chest. She wore a yellow and olive bodysuit, a yellow coat with enormous shoulder pads and a cut out for her gemstone, yellow gloves, and olive yellow, high heeled boots. She also wore a long overcoat that hung past her knees. She wasn't looking this way which was good.

"She looks the same…" I voice out in awe, my body saying it before my mind could catch up. Peridot looks at me for a split second but forms her arms in a Diamond, something I couldn't help but also feel some sense of familiarity with.

"My Diamond! Peridot, reporting in." Peridot said.

"Which Peridot?" Yellow Diamond asks, still busy typing away at her control panel to care.

"F-Facet 2-F-5-L, Cut 5-X-G. I'm sorry to contact you this way, but all other forms of communication have been destroyed and-" Yellow Diamond places her hand up and Peridot immediately stops talking.

"This says you're behind schedule on your mission to…" She pauses, staring at a screen detailing Earth and I felt my Gem glow as her head slowly turns to look at Peridot. I noticed my body turn invisible. "How is... the Earth?"

"It's... full of... life." Peridot squeaks in fear, her usual sharp and sarcastic personality all but vanished at the eyes of her Diamond.

"Organic life…" Yellow Diamond says disgusted and looks away, I could feel anger rise in me. "And where is the Jasper I assigned you? And why aren't you calling from the ship?"

"Oh um... The ship was destroyed." Peridot says, shrinking.

"By whom?" Yellow Diamond asks, her voice firm.

"I-I-I-It was destroyed by…" Peridot pauses to look back at Steven's worried head in the distance, hidden away behind the wreckage. " No one! There was... an accident?... While we were landing."

" I'll inform your manager of your incompetence." Yellow Diamond says unamused, Yellow Pearl moves quietly towards the screen and smirks at Peridot, though her smile freezes as she looks around, probably for me. "And what is the status of the Cluster?"

"The Cluster... will emerge shortly." Peridot says.

"Good. We'll finally get some use out of that miserable planet…" Yellow Diamond says and leans back, some stress taken away. "Thank you for your report, Peridot. There'll be a ship heading to your location to take you to your next assignment."

"Wait! ... I-I wouldn't call to waste your time with a report." Peridot says.

"You already have." Yellow Diamond states.

"No, I mean... the reason I called... the real reason is... I believe we should terminate the Cluster." Peridot says bravely and I couldn't believe my ears.

"...Why?" Yellow Diamond asks, her voice like a hissing snake.

"The organic ecosystem creates resources unique to this world, we can't sacrifice all that potential just for one geo-weapon! I'd like to tell you some plans I came up with to utilize the planet without disrupting the local-" Neither Yellow gems were amused by Peridot's rambling.

" I've heard enough! I don't care about potential and resources." Yellow Diamond says, her voice filled with annoyance.

"What?!" Peridot says in shock.

"I want my Cluster, and I want that planet to die. Just make that happen." Yellow Diamond says.

"...No!" Peridot says firmly and Yellow Pearl looks in shock as she gasps. Yellow Pearl looks up at her Diamond.

"Are you questioning my authority?!" Yellow Diamond asks angrily.

"I'm... questioning your objectivity!" Peridot says and forms a diamond quickly. "My Diamond."

"Well!" Yellow Pearl says in shock, only for her to back away in fear out of the camera as Yellow Diamond stands up.

"Peridot…!" I whisper, touching her lightly with my invisible hand. She ignores me.

"You are out of line." Yellow Diamond says, as she moves the screen closer to her face.

"I just think-" Peridot says, her face covered in sweat.

"I'm not interested in the puny thoughts of a Peridot–" Yellow Diamond states.  
"But!"

" You have disrespected this channel and my time with your presence and you would do well to-"

"But-"

"Shut your mouth!" Peridot complies. " You have failed at every stage of this mission. Your only chance to redeem yourself is to obey this simple order. You are to leave the Cluster to grow. It will tear apart the Earth, and I will take immense satisfaction in erasing that hideous rock off of our star maps! IS! THAT! CLEAR!?"

"I won't do it! I can tell you with certainty that there are things on this planet worth protecting!" Peridot yells at her.

"Apparently more than YOU, you... CLOD!" Peridot screams at her and Yellow Diamond looks on in total anger. I reappear and grab the communicator, I lock eyes with Yellow Diamond for a split second, an expression on her face I was unable to fully express with words and cut the connection.

"That was AMAZING!" Steven yells and hugs Peridot as the rest rush over towards her. I hold the communicator looking down on it with a puzzled expression.

"I can't believe I just did that…" Pearl said.

"I was so wrong about being so wrong about you!" Steven yells happily.

"I can't believe I just did that!..." Peridot says, her voice a mixture of fear and shock.

"You thought you could change her mind." Garnet said, her voice rather happy.

"Yellow D got torn down by the Peri-dactyl!" Amethyst says. Peridot sighs and looks at the communicator in my hand.

"You might not want to hold onto that." Peridot says.

"Why?" I ask.

"Because it can be remotely detonated." She states and I toss it on the ground. We wait for a good couple of minutes. "That's strange." I grab the communicator from the ground.

"A keepsake, for this important moment." I say.

"I thought I could reason with her…" Peridot says, collapsing on the ground.

"Yeah. You really made her mad." Amethyst says.

"And then you insulted her to her face." Pearl says.

"Do you know what this means?!" Steven asks Peridot.

"That I'm a traitor to my home world?" Peridot says in pain.

"You're a Crystal Gem!" Steven says happily and hugs Peridot.

"Whether you like it or not." Garnet says, Peridot groans loudly and I take a seat on the ground. I looked at the communicator. I rotated it around and looked at the other colors, feeling an intense headache and a tense of loss.

"Yellow… Diamond.. Huh?" I say and place the communicator in my pocket.


	16. (16) Super Watermelon Island

We were talking about when we should drill into the Earth's core as Steven was taking a nap on a futon, taking up half of the futon. He seemed to be having a very interesting dream, but all that was interrupted by a tremor. Steven wakes up, panting and sweating."Didn't you feel that?" Peridot asked.

"Feel what?"Amethyst asked, eating a hot dog sandwich on the right of Steven, while I sat on the left and Garnet and Pearl stood near the drill. Peridot was standing on a wooden box to make herself feel taller near her black hoard.

"The ground shook! This could be the start of the emergence of the Cluster." She points to her drawing of the cluster in panic."Stage 1: slight tremors every quarter hour. Stage 2: full-scale earthquakes. Stage 3-" She turns it around and shows a version of a destroyed planet Earth. "The Earth is destroyed! We're running out of time. We need to drill right now!"

"No, it's Malachite!" Steven yelled, pulling his body up.

"Malachite?!" Garnet, Amethyst, Pearl and I yell in shock.

"What?" Peridot said in confusion and I realized that no one told her about crazy fusion.

"I was on Mask Island. I was in a Watermelon Steven. They have a lovely community, but Malachite, she was there!" Steven explained, that's right he had Empathic Telepathy. It also explained why he looked so tired even though he was just sleeping. Amethyst coughs in shock.

"Lapis Lazuli is losing control. Soon, Jasper will overpower her and Malachite will be loose." Garnet explained as Pearl and Amethyst looked up in fear.

"Who knows what sort of destruction an unstable fusion like Malachite could cause?" Pearl says fearfully.

"Alright, Gems. Pearl, Amethyst, and I will warp to Mask Island." Garnet says and looks over at Steven and I. "Steven and Suha, it's too dangerous for you. Stay here and watch after the drill with Peridot. Let's go, Gems! To the nearest warp pad!" She points in the direction of the nearest warp pad.

"To the nearest warp pad!" Pearl and Amethyst cheer and the three of them rush over and warp over to Mask Island, or should I say Watermelon Island. There was another tremor and the three of us sat on the futon.

"So... Lazuli has Jasper trapped in a fusion? You're joking me." Peridot said.

"It's true! But Lapis must be getting tired from fighting Jasper for so long." Steven says looking down.

"Just being on a ship with Jasper made me tired." Peridot said and I couldn't help but laugh a little.

"You can say that again." I tell her.

"Just being on a ship with Jasper made me tired." She repeats and I look at her with a blank expression on my face.

"It's just a saying Peridot." I explain.

"I see…" Peridot says and there was another tremor and Steen stands up, a look of concern obvious on his face.

"Ah! I gotta help them! But they told me it was too dangerous." Steven yells, only for him to sit back down in defeat.

"Why don't you just disobey them? Rebel. Isn't that, like, your guys' thing?" Peridot says.

"If you do, I won't tell them." I tell him, smiling. "Just do you Steven."

"You're right, thanks you guys." He lies down on the futon. "Oh, I know! I'll fall asleep and go into a Watermelon Steven again. This way, I can help them and be safe at the same time." Steven laughs.

"Wow. You're a real anarchist." Peridot says sarcastically.

"No one can tell... me what to do." Steven says and nods off to sleep.

"Wait, what do I do now? Don't just leave me here!" Peridot yells.

"I'm still right here you know." I tell her and she looks at me nervously.

"I know that." She says.

"Let's get the drill ready." I tell her standing up. "I'm sure it's going to happen sooner than later."

"Alright let's do this." Peridot says.

"We just have to get it ready for Steven when he returns." As the time goes by Peridot's predictions come true and I couldn't help but feel a sense of dread every time it happened.

One thing we knew for sure was that the Cluster was ready to form.


	17. (17) Gem Drill

By the time Steven jolted awake, the ground had started to shake and crack. The ground right by Steven's futon was starting to rip open and the black board falls on top of Steven. Steven screams and I run over and pull him up, leading him to the ladder that Peridot was standing on top of. "If you're done just lying there, maybe it's about time that we stop the world from ending! Where are the others!?" Peridot yelled in a panic.

"They're stuck on Mask Island. We have to drill without them!" Steven yelled back and I climbed into the cockpit of the drill.

"Ugh! AM I THE ONLY ONE WHO UNDERSTANDS THE MEANING OF TEAMWORK?! Okay, Steven, are you ready to drill down into the planet to depths never before reached by your species to stop the Cluster before it forms and save your world!?" Peridot asked Steven, grabbing his shoulders.

"I don't know!" Steven yelled in fear, moving his arms away from Peridot.

"Don't say that! Say "we'll do it together and it's gonna be great!"" Peridot said and made the motion of clutching her fists together towards her chest and spreading them out.

"We're gonna do it together and it's gonna be great!" Steven yelled back dramatically, though it was obvious that he was still nervous.

"LIAR!" Peridot yelled back and the ground by the ladder started to break apart. I grabbed the two of them and pulled them into the cockpit. I was smashed to the side while Peridot sat in the middle and Steven on her right.

"Ready or not, we have a mission." Peridot said confidently and started up the drill, and began digging into the ground. "Increasing speed!" The drill rapidly dug down and all around the drill was a very dark and ominous sight.

"Alright. Bracing for impact." Steven said firmly.

"You realize the core is very far down in the Earth don't you?" I asked him.

"It's actually two more hours to the cluster." Peridot explained, adding on to my statement.

"Oh. Wish I'd brought some tunes." Steven said and Peridot turned on the elevator music.

"Uh, thanks." Steven said. We remained silent for what seemed like forever, watching the open window as we dug deeper and deeper.

"It's kinda... freaky down here, huh?" Steven asked.

"Yeah…" I agreed.

"I don't see what's the problem with it." Peridot said.

"It's just dark, and cramped…" Steven tried to stretch out but it was no use. "Ngah, I can't even, gah, stretch out." The compartment shook for a moment and we looked around nervously.

"I'm surprised there was enough space for the three of us." I said and looked over at Peridot. "How was everyone else supposed to fit in here?"

"I don't know, they'd shrink or something. We didn't have a lot of time to plan." Peridot said quickly, embarrassment in her voice.

"So... what is the plan?" Steven asked.

"We have a drill. We're going to drill." Peridot said firmly. "Get ready-" The ground around us started to turn a bright red color. "we're about to penetrate the asthenosphere!" Steven and I pushed ourselves towards Peridot as lava came down from around the cockpit.

"Lava!" I yelled fearfully.

"We're fine." Peridot said and shook us off of her. "Lava is what comes out of volcanoes. That's superheated peridotite." she explained happily.

"Peridot...ite?" Steven asked,

"Yeah. It's made of the same stuff as Peridots." She said, a wistful look in her eyes as she watched the peridotite.

"You were made on Homeworld, right?" Steven asked, though the answer was obvious.

"Mmhmm." Peridot said, her expression changed from wistfulness to something more complicated.

"What was it like?" Steven asked.

" didn't exist. Then I did." She explained firmly, as though it should be obvious. "I don't have memories of it, just feelings." She looked down at the controls, her face sad. "I know I can never go back to Homeworld, but it's hard. Not to have some feelings for where you came from." There was a tear in her eye.

"Of course." I said and patted her on the back. I smiled. "Homeworld can't be all that bad, after all that's where you, Sapphire, Ruby, Pearl and Lapis came from. I can't be made at the Diamonds for that."

She sent me a thankful smile. "Thanks, it's nice not to hear all bad things about Homeworld." She paused for a moment. "Where are you from? I noticed on the Moon Base that although Steven was floating because of his body's inability to gravity shift, you seemed perfectly fine."

"I don't know." I explained and ran my hand through my hair. "I remember growing up, being a baby and all those things, but sometimes I can't tell what I am. Not to mention how different I feel from everyone else. I joined the Gems because I was running away from my circumstances… I was tired of feeling different and non-human at the orphanage, a place where young humans are raised due to their lack of parents and or guardians, but now…" I pause looking away from Steven. "I feel more different and un-human… un-gem than ever."

"I didn't know you felt that way." Peridot said.

"I don't like voicing it, I can't help but feel guilty about something when I explain my feelings. Sometimes I think it's my fault I'm this way. Or something bigger than me that's at fault." I say, I was about to explain more but I felt voices calling out to me.

'Help… Please… Form… Form…' Hundreds of voices called and I clutched my head in pain.

"They're coming…" I said and pulled my knees closer to me and closed my eyes. There was banging on the compartment. Both Peridot and Steven gasp.

"A Gem mutant!" Steven yelled in fear.

"They must've buried some prototypes with the Cluster." Peridot said and more banging came from outside the compartment. The voices only seemed to increase the deeper we went down.

"They're all over us! They're attacking the drill! What do we do?" Steven asked in fear.

"Make it stop…" I said in pain. There was a high pitched sound and I heard two voices scream in pain.

"Pearl didn't think it was necessary, but I never leave home without a blast cannon." Peridot explained and they continued to shoot the mutants away, my headache only seemed to grow with each blast.

"Something doesn't feel right about this." Steven said.

"Then use the D-pad." Steven said.

"No, it's just… These things. We can't just leave their gems out there. They're going to form again later. If I could just bubble them, then, they'd be safe." Steven said.

"C'mon! We've gotta help them." Steven said.

"There is no helping them. They're too broken. The beings who used to be in those shards are so shattered, they don't know who they are, or what's happening around them. They just seek out other gems, looking for the missing pieces of themselves. Trying to make themselves whole." Peridot said and another mutant cried in pain. "These early experiments only combine two or three shards. The cluster will be a billion times bigger. An inseparable fusion capable of destroying worlds, starting with this one."

"I feel like dying!" I yelled in pain. "They won't stop!" The cockpit started to shake and I opened my eyes, watching as we hit deeper rock.

"We're hitting some denser rock! This is it!" Peridot yelled and the drill pierced through the ceiling and made a medium sized hole. Peridot stopped the drill and moved it upwards, so that we could look around with the mobile binoculars with a flashlight attached to it.

"Recovery depth achieved. Target found." Peridot said and I looked up in horror.

"Is that…" Steven asks.

"The Cluster." Peridot said, her eyes narrowing. There were millions of gem shards all together, with hundreds of different colors illuminating off of it, it was both the most beautiful and most terrifying thing I had ever seen in my whole life. A tremor started and all of us shouted in alarm.

"What's happening?!" Steven asked and white hands began to ripple and surround the surface of the Cluster. I covered my ears as the voices became louder and louder. My ears started to ring and my headache was so horrible that it felt like my skull was being ripped open. I couldn't hear Steven or Peridot, only the voices, and once they started drilling, the voices only worsened. I opened my eyes and slammed my arms down to the seat in frustration.

"SUHA!" I heard them scream and I could feel myself falling, I opened my eyes and saw that I was heading right towards the Cluster, the white arms formed around me and I felt myself slip away.

"My name is Ruby/ Emerald/ Amethyst/ Citrine/ Sapphire/ Nephrite/ Pearl/ Jasper/ Agate/ Topaz/ Aquamarine/ Topaz/ Lapis Lazuli/ Jade/ Bismuth/ Obsidian/ Larimar/ Serpentine/ Beryl/ Zircon/ Spinel…" The names seemed to continue on and on.

"I was a soldier/ warrior/ pilot/ servant/ manager/ retriever/ protector/ escort/ superior/ fusion/ counsel/ toy/ guard/ shatter/ guard/ builder/ commander/ Homeworld Gem/ Earth Gem/ Crystal Gem…."

"I was destroyed/ shattered/ collected/ experimented/ fused/ ripped/ broken/ smashed/ exploded/ imploded/ splintered/ cracked/ fractured/ fragmented/ crushed/ scotched/ burned/ along the way…"

"We don't want to form." They said together. "Don't shatter us any more than we already are." There was a pink light and I opened my eyes, I could see something pink floating, the rest of the gem shards above. I moved over and grabbed the arm, only to see it change into Steven's arm instead, I blinked in confusion and rubbed my eyes.

"Suha?" Steven asked. "Is that you?"

"Of course it's me." I told him and smiled. "Did you fall in here to?"

"No, I don't think so at least." Then he paused and gave me a big hug, I could feel tears running down my back. "I… We... You fell… and there was a flash of light and you were gone." I thought… you were…"

"I'm here now." I told him.

"Must... Have to... Want to... Need to... Have to…" The voices said and we released our hug. I noticed they were much quieter now that Steven was here. "Want to... Need to... Want to…" A gem floats past Steven and a small broken voice whispers as the glow pulsated.

"...want to...need to…" The shard said.

"You… want to? Want to what?" Steven asked and I covered my ears as a strong white light enveloped us and the voices cried out in unison.

"FORM!" The Cluster yelled together and Steven screamed, covering his ears.

"Please! Stop!" Steven yelled and the light subsided and the voices calmed themselves. I looked around and could feel my consciousness fading again. Steven grabbed onto my arm and I noticed it was starting to glow dark black in color and fade. "Suha! No please! Don't leave me here!"

"Sorry…" I said and held onto his hand. I noticed his form changed, I guessed I was having a hallucination. I was holding onto a pink shoulder and felt a strange sense of familiarity hit me. I felt myself smile. "P…" And all of my energy disappeared and I closed my eyes.

"Don't leave us... " The Cluster pleaded to me. "Please… Don't go…" I then drifted off.


	18. (18) Too Short to Ride

"Behold! My innovation!" A voice yelled and immediately shot forward in shock.

"Wah!" I screamed as I fell off the bed and landed on the floor. "Ouch!"

"Suha!" I heard Steven's voice. I opened my eyes and saw Steven standing there with a couple tears down his face.

"What's up Steven?" I asked, though I noticed my voice was a bit deeper.

"You have returned!" Another voice yelled and I looked over to see Peridot with a green ribbon on her head. She also strapped a tablet on a velcro band on her wrist.

"What do you mean returned?" I asked her.

"You've been gone for over a month!" Steven yelled.

"Wait, how did I get out of the Cluster?" I asked him.

"They just gave you to us." Peridot explained. "It was very interesting to watch. Also you might want to look in a mirror." Peridot clicked the camera icon on her tablet and took a few steps backed up. I stood up and noticed that I must've grown while I was asleep. I was about the same height as Pearl if I guessed looking at my height difference from Steven. Peridot seemed to have taken a photo because she walked back over and showed it to me. I almost feel back in surprise. I used to look around Connie's age to Jenny's. My hair reached below my waist and my locs had curled wonderfully. My skin had darkened and instead of being medium brown it had reached to a good mix between dark brown and deep purple. The gray undertone stayed but wasn't as obvious as before. My hair, eyelashes, eyes and eyebrow color had changed the most, they were a mixture of different colors but was mostly white.

"What-" I was at a loss for words.

"It seemed that the Cluster changed your physical appearance." Peridot explained circling around me. "It's rather impressive actually, considering those gems had the perfect opportunity to turn you into fragments and make you a part of the Cluster."

"Why didn't they?" I asked no one in particular.

"No one knows. Only the Cluster." Peridot said.

"I'm sure it's fine. Maybe that experience just made me want to change?" I said.

"You two ready to go or what? Oh Suha, you're awake." A voice said and I looked behind me and saw Amethyst sitting on the couch. Steven took a seat besides her and I took a seat by Steven while Peridot walked down the stairs.

"Go?" Peridot asked.

"Yeah. Amethyst and I were gonna go out, and we wanted you to come, too." Steven said.

""Hang out"? Oh, yeah." Peridot blushed green. "That's a friend thing to do. So, where are we hanging out, friends?"

"Suha you can come too, if you want." Amethyst said, her cheeks turning purple.

"Really?" I was surprised, last time I checked Amethyst and I wasn't even considered friends, there was still some awkwardness between us. I guess the whole saving the Earth a couple times has finally loosened her up. I could feel the heat raise and I smiled. "Sure!"

As we walked towards the Beach City amusement park, I realized that this was my first official time walking in the streets. I noticed a few glances our way but that was it. Peridot, Amethyst and Steven explained everything that I missed. Such as Steven being able to bubble the Cluster, Lapis and Peridot living in the barn together and tried to resolve their past conflicts, Lapis had a very traumatic experience being fused with Jasper so she wasn't in a good mental state (though she did ask how I was), five Ruby soldiers appeared trying to search for Jasper but the Gems were able to trick them into leaving Earth through baseball, Steven experienced his new ability floating in the air and how it was tied to his emotions, Sour Crean's biological father Marty came by and gave Greg money he owned him and Greg, Steven and Pearl went to Empire City (my face darkened at that) and Steven helped heal Pearl's and his father's relationship because of Rose Quartz.

"Seems like I missed a lot." I said as we reached Beach City Funland, an amusement park which featured roller coasters, an arcade, a midway, a teacup, a ferris wheel, a carousel and bumper cars.

"Ta-da! Welcome to Funland!" Steven cheered.

Peridot looked at the entrance sign. "You brought me to a sign!" Peridot said.

"Nah, nah." Amethyst said and everyone locked hands. "You gotta go inside!" They pulled us inside and showed us a roller coaster.

"Aha, a speed pattern transportation circuit." Peridot said happily.

"And a roller coaster." Steven said and he and Amethyst smiled happily.

"You've got to do the most fun thing in Funland first." Amethyst said putting her hand on her hip, smirking.

"Hmm.." Peridot said, putting her hand on her chin. "Bold. Let's follow this logic!" The four of us ran to the Appalachian ride where a man stood as the operator. I realized this must be Mr. Smiley, the description that Steven told me fit perfectly. He was a tall bald man with medium brown skin and a mustache that framed his large and bright smile. We wore a collared gray-blue shirt with a geometric print of periwinkle circles and sulfur yellow triangles tucked into black or olive green mid-thigh length shorts, light brown boots, and a fanny pack.

He stood beside a height chart. "Four, please!" Steven cheered running forward.

"Sure. We got some new rules, first." He pointed to the chart. "Though you're fine." He said to me and I nodded back. The trio measured their heights, Steven was about half a foot too short and Amethyst was a couple inches too short. Peridot walked over happily as the pair grunted in disappointment. She had a wide smile on her face as she was tall enough to surprise the height limit. Mr. Smiley narrowed his eyes and flattened Peridot's hair to see her real height. Peridot throws her hands up in anger and moves her arms up and down in a tantrum.

"Ha-ha! Sorry, guys. Looks like this squad has some growing to do before you can ride." Mr. Smiley says and Peridot stops her tantrum.

"I do not have to grow. This height is indicative of my rarity and importance. I demand entry, you CLOD!" Mr. Smiley's eyes and smile narrow at Peridot's outburst. He clears his throat.

"You kids want another lifetime ban?" He asks easily.

"No thanks, Mr. Smiley. " Steven says and hurries Peridot away.

"Shorty Squad out." Amethyst said and the two of us went to join the duo. " Well, that stinks." She looked over at me. "Why are you still here? You're tall enough to ride."

"It's not that fun alone." I said. "Trust me, I've done it before." I couldn't help but think about the school field trips where it was just me, by myself, all alone. "I was really looking forward to going on the ride with you guys."

Amethyst smacks her head. "Ah, of course. Let's just grow!" She grows to about my height. She was wearing a black and white baseball cap, backwards, dark purple ripped jeans and a white shirt that was tied at the bottom with the sleeves rolled up.

Steven gasped. "Shape-shifting!" He said and grew his legs a little shorter so that his height reached a few inches shorter than my height. Steven and Amethyst look down at Peridot. Peridot tries tos shapeshift herself but is left sweating, grunting and straining.

"Uh, Peridot?" Steven asked. Peridot stops and opens her left eye and looks at Steven, embarrassed.

"Uh, I... I must be a little rusty. Why don't you three just go?" She said softly.

"Aw, what?" Steven whines, disappointed.

"What?" Peridot asked angrily, and we looked at her.

"You sure?" Amethyst asked.

"Sure I'm sure. I can just look up what a roller coaster feels like. Just hurry up and go so you can hurry up and come back." She said quickly, fanning her arms at Amethyst.

"Oh, okay." Amethyst and Steven walk away but I take a seat on the ground.

"What are you still doing here?" Peridot asked, her eyes narrowed.

"It's not fun to stand alone." I say. "Don't mind me." A few minutes pass and Amethyst and Steven return to us, in their normal forms. They led us to the House of Mirrors, where Amethyst and Steven shapeshifted so they looked normal.

"Why don't you try Suha?" Steven asked and I looked at him uncomfortably.

"No thanks." I say softly. "Not into it."

"Oh, okay." Steven says and gets back to shapeshifting. Amethyst and Steven lead us to a different area. I look down at Peridot to see her typing. "Am I having fun?" into a search engine, where the definition of "fun" pops up and she sighs in disappointment. We walked by a ring toss game booth that had a lot of green alien plush toys. Peridot stops in front of it and explains that she wants the toy. Steven rings the bell and Mr. Smiley runs over panting.

"Hey there, Steven." Mr. Smiley says happily, though there was a hint of stress in his voice.

"Mr. Smiley, you're working the ring toss, too?" Steven asked, giving the man a couple of tickets.

"Yeah. You can say we're a little "understaffed"." Mr. Smiley says and pulls out three rows of rings.

"Ha! I get it." Steven says happily.

"I'm glad you see the humor in it, Steven, because I haven't seen a bed in six days!" Mr. Smiley says and Steven laughs nervously. Peridot tosses the ring and hits the back of the wall. She throws her arms up joyfully thinking she's won. Steven and Amethyst explain that's not how it works. The trio tries to throw the rings but they miss every bottle. It was actually impressive how they couldn't get a single one. Amethyst distracts Me. Smiley by telling him that some kid named "Onion" was trying to set the roller coaster on fire. Mr. Smiley runs over and Amethyst shapeshifts her arm so that the ring lands on a bottle. Mr. Smiley comes back and Peridot gets a tiny alien on her index finger.

"It's a little sister." Mr. Smiley says laughing and Peridot walks over with a look of disappointment on her face.

"Um, excuse me, but you're wrong. I'm supposed to win that one." Peridot says, pointing to the large alien plush. Mr. Smiley explains that the big plush equals ten rings. Amethyst, Steven and I go to get some food and we take a seat on a bench. Peridot explains that she's unable to shapeshift and Steven and Amethyst try to help her shapeshift.

They extended their tongues to lick their elbows. Fail. Then, Amethyst shapeshifted into a cat, Peridot can only curl her hands like a cat. Steven shapeshifted one of his fingers into a cat head, it terrified him, and he dunked it into the sea making it disappear. Amethyst shapeshifted into a ball and threw herself at Steven. Steven extended his arms to catch Amethyst and bounced her towards Peridot. Peridot was unable to catch Amethyst and took a direct hit in the face, leaving her laying face-down on the sand and moaning in pain. Amethyst shapeshifted back to normal and walked up to Peridot with Steven. They then start pulling on Peridot, she says now, until she demands that they drop her.

"This isn't going to work." Peridot said.

"Maybe if we keep trying…" Steven said positively.

"No." Peridot said, disappointment in her voice, she takes a seat on the sand. "My lack of skill is an objective fact. I'm an Era-2 Peridot. I am new. Resources are dwindling on Homeworld. They can't make Gems like they used to. That's why they give Era-2 Peridots technological enhancements because we... don't have powers." She hugs the tablet to her.

Amethyst walks over to Peridot, with an angry expression on her face. Per, I'mma be really real with you for a sec. This whole time we've been here, you've just been focusing on what you can't do. Of course you're not having any fun." Peridot focuses on her tablet. "You think that all you are is who you could be, but we don't hang out with you because of who you could be. We like you." She continues to ignore Amethyst and keeps typing on her tablet. " I know you just heard me. Stop playing with that thing. Ugh. Gimme that!" Amethyst takes the tablet away.

"Amethyst…" I warn.

"NO!" Peridot yells, tightening her grip on her.

"You don't need it!" Amethyst yelled back.

"You don't know that!" Peridot yelled back.

"Yes. I. do!" She snatches the tablet away.

"Wait! Wait-wait-wait-wai-w-w-w-wait!" Peridot yelled in a panic as Amethyst threw it into the ocean. Peridot stands up and holds her arms out. "NO! IT'S ALL THAT I AM!"

"Peridot!" Steven and I saw in shock, noticing the tablet floating in the sky. "Metal Powers!"

"... Dude." Amethyst said walking over.

"Do you know what this means? You can open really tight jars. You can remove staples without a staple remover. You can open doors without having to touch them after you wash your hands." Steven said in excitement as Peridot moved the tablet over towards her.

"No. I know exactly what I can do." Peridot said determined. She went over to the ring toss game booth and used her power to levitate and drop ten rings onto the bottles. Mr. Smiley gave her the big alien plus reward and she hugged happily.

"Congratulations, Peridot." I told her.

"Thanks." She said. "And thanks for being there, you know…"

"You're welcome." I said. "Let's come here again, just the two of us." The smile that she had on her face was confirmation enough.


	19. (19) Monster Reunion

A few weeks had passed and there were a few things that were new, such as Steven accidentally ending up in Lar's body. Lars was a lanky, slim and somewhat tall resident of Beach City who looked a little older than high school age. He wore tunnels in his stretched earlobes and he had curly, orange brown hair that was styled in a sort of mohawk. He wore a white-gray, long sleeved shirt with a green shirt sporting a snake design over it with a pair of ripped, dark blue jeans. He also wore mint and dark green high top sneakers. I only found out about it because he smacked Steven in the face to get him to wake up.

Steven and Connie apparently fused into Stevonnie and ran into someone named Kevin. They beat him in a car race. Then Steven accidentally reignited an old feud between restaurant owners Mr. Fryman and Kofi Pizza. So all of us had to make a new restaurant so that the feud would end. Then Steven helped Kiki with her nightmares by using his astral projection ability and found out that the only reason she was having nightmares was because she was overworked at Fish Stew Pizza while her sister, Jenny skipped.

"Oh no! MC Bear-Bear, you've got a tear-tear!" Steven said one day while we were hanging out in our shared room. "I should have been more careful. We've lost too many good bears. Don't worry. You're hurt, but I'll look after you. Mwah!" Steven kisses the bear on the forehead and it starts to sparkle diamonds and the tear puts itself back to better.

"Woah." I said. I hadn't seen Steven's healing powers in action before.

"Guys? Guys?!" Steven yells joyfully and runs down the stairs and sees the Gems in the kitchen.

"What's up, little Ste-cup?" Amethyst asked.

"We were just about to put away the dishes." Pearl said holding a plate, Steven takes it away from her and holds it up in the air.

"Look what I can do!" Steven yelled happily and smashed the plate on the ground. Pearl had a face of absolute shock while Amethyst looked ecstatic.

"All right! It's a Ste-party!" Amethyst cheered happily.

"What is the meaning of this?!" Pearl asked, still confused and shocked.

"My healing spit is back!" Steven said happily showing his hand and then pointing towards our room. "I fixed a rip on MC Bear-Bear! Here, I'll show you!" Steven licked his hand and aimed his hand towards the broken plate but Pearl's hands stopped him.

"Fine, fine, I believe you. I don't want you touching a broken plate. I'll find a broom." Pearl said looking away.

"I'll find some other stuff to break!" Amethyst cheers and runs off with Pearl following her in a panic.

"No, Amethyst!" I walked over to join Steven who was standing near Garnet.

"Now that my healing spit is back... maybe I can finally-" Steven trails off looking towards the Temple Door.

"No." Garnet said firmly.

"What? But, I didn't even ask anything yet." He whines.

"With my future vision, I can see you're going to ask if you could use your power to heal one of the monsters in the bubble room." Garnet said, placing her hand on her visor.

"Can you see if I can get you to change your mind?" Steven asked, bringing his hands together in a begging motion. He gives her the puppy dog eyes. Garnet's gemstones open the door and all of us head to the room.

"This is the Bubble Room?" I asked. "Wait, I just realized something, I've never been inside the Temple before!" The room had a lava pit in the center and had thousands of Gemstones floating around in the ceiling.

"It's actually called The Burning Room." Garnet explained, helping me down. "The room is deep in the Temple's basement and is connected to the Crystal Heart." She points to a huge, red, crystal structure. "This is where all the Corrupted Gems and some Cluster Gems are stored."

"Why did you agree to this?" Pearl asked after her explanation.

"I lost a battle of will." Garnet said and I couldn't help but laugh at that.

"Here it is!" Steven yelled and jumped high above and placed his hands around a pink bubble. The gem was circular in shape and colored light green with dark green contour lines surrounding the center of the gem, connecting to a circular shape. "Gotcha!"

"Is that.." Pearl trailed off, her face filled with sadness and regret.

"It's Centipeetle. If I can help any of them, I want to help her first." Steven said and Amethyst walks over to him with her whip in hand and pulls a bubbled Chaaaaps to her.

"Don't forget these! She said and Steven gasped.

"Chaaaaps! They're her favorite!" Steven said and looked over to us. I walk over and stare at the gemstone.

"That's a Nephrite right?" I asked no one in particular.

"Ne-" Steven accidentally releases the bubble and a white light with a green outline glows. There was a form of a giant centipede-like creature with the gemstone in what seemed to be on the head as the eye. She screeches and I cover my ears.

'Why was I unbubbled?!' A voice yelled in my head and I felt tears run down my eyes. Amethyst pulls me away as I continue to stare in shock.

"Come on dude, do your thing!" Amethyst yelled as we reached Pearl and Garnet.

"Be careful!" Garnet yelled and the Centipeedle drops to the ground and hisses at Steven.

'Go away!' She yelled and Steven licks his hand the slaps it on her gem. A bright white light blinded my eyes for a split second and the gemstone's eye opened and blinked and everyone gasped. Nephrite reappears in a more humanoid form. Her eye was no longer inside of her mouth and her posterior had an insect-like abdomen, which tipped with claw-like cerci. She wore a torn-up light gray midriff that tapers off of her right shoulder, brown gloves and boots that reach her mid-calf and a black bodysuit with green accents. Her hair was wild and white in the shape of a mane.

"Is it working?" Peridot asked. Nephrite turns around in shock and screeches 'Where am I?!'

"It worked!" Steven cheered, pumping his fist into the air and grabbing the bubbled Chaaaaps. He walks over to her.

"Uh, Steven?" Pearl asked. Nephrite falls on the floor in confusion.

"Centi, you're back!" Steven cheered and she hisses at him, making him stop in his place. 'Go away!'.

"Whoa! What's the matter? Don't you want some Chaaaaps?" He asked, showing her the bubbled bag.

'Why won't you listen to me?!' She yelled. Amethyst sighs.

"I don't think she remembers them." She said.

"Forget the Chaaaaps" Steven said, pushing the bubble into the air, making Nephrite watch it float upwards. "You remember me, don't you?" She tilts her head in confusion.

"I have a bad feeling this didn't work how I wanted it to work." Steven said looking at us and I walked forward. Nephrite yells at me.

'Go away!' and I stop a few feet behind Steven.

"Hmm, possibly not. Oh! Don't go closer!" Pearl yelled as Steven walked up to Nephrite, who had green liquid acid pouring from her mouth.

"Maybe she just needs a little extra love!" Steven said and kissed her gemstone. Nephrite blinks in pain.

'What?' She whines in pain and moves her arm rubbing her eye. 'Why would he kiss my eye?!' She backs away further and yells at Steven. 'Hey!'

"Steven, you shouldn't just kiss someone's eye." I said and he laughs nervously.

"Uh, oops?" He said as Nephrite narrows her eyes at him.

"Hmm. This is the best we've ever seen it work." Garnet said to Pearl.

"But it didn't work. I guess it'll take more than a kiss to heal damage from the Diamonds." Pearl said sadly.

"But why? My healing powers are back. I-I should be able to do this." Steven asked, walking towards them though I walk towards Nephrite while they're talking to each other. She glares at me.

'What do you want?' She screeched angrily.

"Your name is Nephrite right?" I ask her.

'Nephrite Facet-413 Cabochon-12.' She said. 'Do you know where my squadron is?'

"Squadron?" I asked.

'I was the caption of a squadron that served Pink Diamond and our commander Hessonite. We were sent in a ship to colonize Earth, though unfortunately we were trapped on Earth during the Rebellion.' She then hides behind me in fear and I turn around to see Amethyst walking forward with her whips.

"No! Leave Nephrite alone!" I yell protectively.

"It's time to let her rest again." Garnet said and I glared back.

"No! We can get answers from her!" I said and looked back at the Semi-corrupted Gem. "Nephrite Facet-413 Cabochon-12, that's what she told me."

"What?"

"Impossible."

"No way."  
"You can understand her?" Steven asked and I nodded.

"Can't you guys too?" I asked and they shook their heads no.

"I forgot." Garnet said, making everyone look at her. "Suha, this is your first time seeing a Corrupted Gem." I nod.

"I could understand her before Steven healed her and after." I explained. "Can we at least let her stay until she's too far gone?"

"Fine." Garnet said and walked to the exit.

"What are we going to do with her? Let her move in?" Pearl asked.

"Aw yeah! Corrupted roommate!" Amethyst cheered.

"Oh Amethyst, be sensitive." Pearl said and Steven gasped.

"She can stay on the couch!" Steven cheered.

"Uh, we're…. Really doing this?" Pearl asked nervously.

"She can stay un-bubbled. But you have to understand. Some Gems are beyond our help." Pearl said to us. The Gems walked away and Steven led her towards the exit.

"I'll be there soon." I said looking up at the bubbles. The more I stared up at them the more I felt a deep sense of mourning.

watch?v=pozDLjFUVbM

Let's go in the garden

You'll find something waiting

Right there where you left it lying upside down

When you finally find it, you'll see how it's faded

The underside is lighter when you turn it around

Everything stays right where you left it

Everything stays

But it still changes

Ever so slightly, daily and nightly

In little ways, when everything stays

Go down to the ocean

The crystal tide is rising

The waters' gotten higher as the shore washes out

Keep your eyes wide open, even when the sun is blazin'

The moon controls the tide, it can cause you to drown

Everything stays, right where you've left it

Everything stays, but it still changes

Ever so slightly, daily and nightly

In little ways

When everything stays

By the time I reached Steven and Nephrite Nephrite was using a dark green crayon to speak to Steven. I took a seat and noticed Nephrite had written her name in Gem Glyph, though her handwriting was messy and she had written it in cursive. I looked at some of the other pages and noticed that they were all written in the language. Why can I read this? And how did I know that she was Nephrite? It seemed that the questions I had for myself just seemed to grow.

"Do you remember anything from before you- I-I mean, from long ago?" Nephrite pauses and draws a spaceship. "It's you in... some kind of spaceship? Is that how you came to Earth?" She adds onto her drawing."What are you drawing now?" A couple other Nephrites. "Huh. They look kind of like you. Was that... your crew?"

'Yep.' Nephrite squaked and Steven gasped.

"You were a captain? That's so cool! I'm sorry, that's so cool, sir!" He gets up and salutes to her. "Oh, yeah, you guys don't salute like that. You go like... Mm." He tried to do the Diamond salute but failed. "Ow, ow! Oh, this looked so easy when Peridot did it." Nephrite and I do the salute at the same time at the same time and Steven asped. "Yeah! Like that!" I release my arms.

"It's not that hard to do Steven." I said. "Maybe it's because your arms are too short?" He starts to laugh but pauses as Nephrite repeats the salute a couple times.

"My Diamond.." She said in realization and started drawing again.

"It's you... saluting... You're saluting someone... Your commander? She gave you an order... You and your crew... and your ship. Woah, lots of ships. You flew through space. Towards Earth. You landed and started building stuff. But then... the Gem war...! You joined the fight…" She draws a line on her figures.

"They were shattered." I said as Steven looked on in horror.

'Yes.' Nephrite said. 'It was horrible.' She continues on.

"You and your crew kept going." Steven said and she ripped the drawing so that she is away from her crew. "You got separated, but you were still fighting. Then, new orders from your commander... to retreat. Everyone's running, but from what? You don't know. Where's your crew? Where's your ship?! You stopped. You heard something. From the sky, a sound. A song? And then…" Nephrite cries in sadness and breaks her crayon in half. "That light. Where did it come from?" She continues drawing and after she finishes, The Great Diamond Authority symbol appeared on the white-out drawing.

"How could they?" I asked though I paused looking at the missing Diamond at the bottom. "Where's Pink?" I felt tears run down my face and Nephrite collapsed to the ground, coughing and spitting up acid, making the floor disintegrate.

"Are you okay?!" Steven yelled as her left arm mutated back into its corrupted form.

'Steven!' Nephrite yelled in pain.

"You're reverting. Here, I'll heal you again!" He yells and licks his hand and touches Nephrite's arm. Her arm glitches for a split second but it remains corrupted.

"'Why isn't it working?! How can I help you!?'" The two of them yell at the same time. Nephrite scrambles to the ground and picks up a piece of paper.

"How can we help you?!" Steven and I yelled and she showed us the Diamond symbol.

"I don't understand!" Steven yelled back.

'Ship! Ship!' She yelled at me.

"Steven! Are there any ships left?!" I asked.

"Yeah! Where Pearl and Garnet made up!" He yelled and I pulled Nephrite along towards the Warp Pad. Steven ran towards up and activated it. Tears fall from Nephrite's eyes as she runs forward.

'It's here!' She yelled and ran forward.

"Hey! Wait for us!" We yelled and followed her.

'Steven!' Nephrite called out. 'No, not yet!' We paused in horror as she fell to the ground and the white light reappeared.

"Oh no!" Steven yelled. Nephrite's original form had appeared. She had roughly thirteen visible dark-green segments that each had one pair of similarly colored legs. The final segment didn't have legs, but instead a pair of claw-like cerci. Each of the segments were covered on the top side with a solid crystal covering. Her head was a large pair of jaws/mandibles with a gem in the back of the "mouth". There was also a green crystal protuberance on the base of the head that formed a broken horn-like structure. She had a flowing, light-cream colored mane immediately behind her head.

"Nephrite…" I said in pain. She ran forward towards a large ship that looked like a flying saucer. It was made out of a dull gray, stone like material with three legs. The pink paint had completely eroded away apart from a small amount on the rim of the far edges. Nephrite ripped through the vines and I noticed the hand scan from before that was too small for Nephrite to reach. I moved my hand through the vines and a door opened with dust clouds floating out of it. We followed Nephrite forward. The interior was mostly a dull, stony gray, with salmon-pink crystals and consoles that were overgrown with mushrooms and other vegetation for what seemed to be thousands of years.

"We're in! What now?" Steven asked and we looked up at the ceiling to see two other Nephrites that were turned into Centipeetles. "Other Centipeetles?" Nephrite crawled up the wall and joined the other Nephrites.

'You're back!' One of the Nephrites said, her voice slightly higher.

'We missed you.' The other said.

'It's good to be back.' Nephrite said happily.

"Hey now! This is my style!" Amethyst appeared behind us and shapeshifted herself into a corrupted Nephrite.

"Can I hang with you, dudes?" Amethyst asked, her voice lower.

"Amethyst, don't make fun!" Pearl scolded with Garnet right behind her.

"I'm not! Ugh!" Amethyst whined back and returned herself to normal.

"You guys were right after all. I couldn't help Centipeetle." Steven said, defeated.

"You brought the Centipeetle back to her ship. You brought her back to her crew. They've been waiting here for her. They didn't want to leave her behind." Garnet said softly.

"Wait... how did you know any of that?" Steven asked, confused. Garnet pulled a stack of paper forward.

"She told us." Garnet explained, Pearl and Amethyst looking at the paper happily. Garnet passes Steven the stack.

"Her drawings?" He asked.

"Her writing." Garnet and I said.

"It's actually decently legible!" Pearl said happily.

"Wait, you understand it too?" Steven asked and I felt eyes on me.

"Yes…." I said. "Don't ask me how?"

"You're so cool!" Steven said and I smiled at him. Nephrite crawls over toward us and nuzzles us happily. I smile at her.

"Congratulates Nephrite, I hope you and your crew are happy." I told her.

'Thank you.' She said. 'And Steven too. What's your name?'

"Suha."

'Suha and Steven, a good pair.' I blush and look away.

"You look so happy here. Can we let the Centipeetles stay?" Steven shows them his puppy dog eyes.

"You can put those puppy dog eyes away, Steven. This ship, it's their bubble now." We leave the ship and I take one last look at the Nephrites, looking at them happy with their company. I close the door and we walk towards the warp pad.

"Pearl! Pearl! Pearl!" Steven said happily. "Will you teach me to write in Gem?"

"Oh, Steven, it's very complicated. And you won't have much use for it." Pearl explained. Steven looks through the drawings.

"Oh, just a few things, like, "Hi, how are you?", "Where's the bathroom?", and…" He paused on the Diamonds symbol and looked over at me. The look of sorrow on his face was easy to place.

"And "I'm sorry."" We said.


	20. (20) Alone at Sea

Steven had convinced me to come along with him and his father on a boat trip. Steven thought that since Lapis neither disliked me nor Steven, that I would be a good contribution to helping Lapis get through her fear when it came to the ocean. Steven was wearing light blue shorts, which was a change from his usual jeans. Steven and I were holding Lapis' hands as we led her to the pier. She used her water wings to cover her eyes, per Steven's request. "I'm starting to guess the surprise, guys."

"I told you to close your eyes!" Steven said, looking at Lapis' eyes through the water.

She chuckled and closed them back. "Sorry."

"Okay! Wait here!" Steven said and motioned to Greg and pulled me forward. "Surprise!" The three of us said and Greg blew bubbles from his pipe. Lapis retracted her wings and with an unimpressed and disgruntled look on her face, she hummed.

"We bought a boat!" Steven said walking forward happily towards his father. Greg was wearing a tannish brown suit blazer with a dark green turtleneck, a white captain's hat with a dark brown almost black anchor in the middle and a dark green underside and ripped dark grey jeans. His tan line was rather obvious, showing his pale lower legs and sandal tan near his feet.

"Uh, correction. We rented a boat." Greg said with his finger in the air. "I may be rich, but buying a boat would be going a bit... overboard." He tipped his hat with his thumb, looking away.

"Ayyy." Steven said.

"Ayyyyy." Greg said.

"Ayyyyyyy!" The duo said as Lapis and I looked on blankly. Greg looked over at our expression and rubbed his head nervously as Steven looked at us.

"Just a joke I picked up from some sailors. They have a surprisingly clean sense of humor." Greg explained.

"Oh, I didn't realize it was a joke." I said.

"Steven, who is this?" Lapis asked.

"Uh, Greg Universe." Greg said walking forward while Steven and I backed away, noticing Lapis tense mildly. He held out his head and slightly pulled it back, noticing that Lapis was in no mood to shake it or that she didn't understand the human custom. "You broke my leg trying to use the ocean to fly back to your homeworld?"

"Lapis Lazuli. Nice to meet you." Lapis said nervously, a look of guilt on her face as she smiled at him. Greg looked down at his hand and clinched it.

"Great! Well, I'll get the boat started." Greg said and ran off. Steven and I walked back over to Lapis. Lapis looked down at her hands in confusion.

"So what do you think?" Steven asked her.

"It's nice…" She said with a smile on her face, but it faded. "But I don't know."

"Look, Lapis, I know you spent a really long time fused with Jasper at the bottom of the ocean, but you're not Malachite anymore. And water is a part of who you are. You can't let one bad experience take that away from you." Steven said kindly.

"It was more than one." Lapis said, looking away with a dark look in her eyes.

"Just give it a chance. I promise we'll make this the most fun you've ever had." Lapis explained that she didn't deserve this kindness. Steven didn't give up and showed that we named the boat 'Lil Lappy', covering the boat's original name 'S.S. Misery' with a taped long piece of paper. Lapis snorted and we went onto the boat. We got onto the boat easily with the help of Lapis' water wings and set sail, though a piece of wood got pulled off the dock because Greg forgot to remove the cord that kept the yacht at bay.

"Ah, geez, you think anyone will notice?" None of us said anything, after a few minutes Beach City was out of view. " Wow, I think I did a number on that dock. Maybe somebody else should take a shot at being captain." Greg turned around and extended the Captain's hat towards Lapis. "What do you say, Captain Lazuli?"

"I shouldn't." Lapis said, fear in her voice.

"Go for it, Lapis." Steven cheered.

"Don't put me in charge!" Lapis yelled, agitation laced in her voice. "...Oh, sorry. I mean, y-you shouldn't trust me with the boat."

"Don't worry about it. Maybe later." I said, hoping to change the subject.

"Only fun stuff today!" Steven cheered and Lapis smiled.

"Lapis, you can still wear the hat, if you want." Greg said kindly. Lapis had a frozen smile on her face, her eyes wide.

"Thanks, but I'm not putting that on my body." Lapis said quickly.

"Steven? You wanna be Captain?" I asked him, he looked away embarrassed.

"No! We'll all be first mates!" Steven cheered. I smiled down at him and motioned Greg to pass me the hat, which he did. I placed it on Steven's head.

"There, two mates and two Captains." I said.

"But…" Steven looked down at the hand he was holding, which was Lapis'.

"Go have fun Steven." Lapis said. "We won't be far." He paused for a moment but cheered. Greg put Steven on his shoulders and Lapis followed me towards the front of the yacht.

"So…." We said at the same time and laughed.

"You first." I said.

"You look… different." Lapis said, a blush on her face.

"Good different?" I asked. "Or bad?"

"G-good." She said. "I've never seen any human or Gem with your kind of colouring." She was looking deeply into my eyes. "Your eyes are beautiful…" I blushed and looked away, rubbing my head.

"Thank you…" I whispered and paused. "I'm happy your back. I know Steven is too."

"Thanks." Lapis said but frowned. "I wish I listened to you on the ship, when I was in that cage… If I did then I wouldn't…" She stopped talking, looking down at the sea anxiously.

"We don't have to talk about that." I told her gently and pulled her up. I gave her a small smile. "We're supposed to be having fun right?"

"Right." She said smiling, Steven and Greg walked over and started to fish. Lapis used her water powers and brought a group of water the size of the boat above their heads. That freaked out Greg and Lapis blushed. Greg then taught her how to fish the old fashioned way and after many hours there was a bit. Lapis started to ring in the fish but she was pulled forward. Steven grabbed her, while Greg grabbed Steven and I grabbed Greg.

"You got it, Lapis! Reel it in!" Steven said.

"It's... pulling... so hard!" She says and gasps, her face filled with anxiety and the string snapped, making everyone tumble to the ground. Lapis got up and looked over the edge. Lapis moved over to the patio lounge chair on the deck and I followed her. Steven came over a few seconds later. Steven tried to cheer her up but the yacht started to shake, as if it crashed onto something. Steven goes up to where his father was to check on the boat. The yacht shook again and then there was total silence. There was a rumble and an explosion. Lapis and I watch as Universes run over to check the interior of the yacht. Greg opens the hatch to the engine room and smoke bursts out of the door. Steven and Greg cough. The clouds darkened overhead and it looked like a storm was fast approaching.

"Lapis? Um... I have some not-so-good news. There's trouble with the engine, and we might be stuck out here for a while." Steven said and Lapis sighs in response, I walk over towards Steven. Alarm bells were ringing in my head. "I'm so sorry! This whole thing is my fault. I just wanted you to have fun, but everything's a mess. I shouldn't have made you come on this trip."

Lapis moves a few feet away from him. "It's my fault. I'm the one to blame." She said, her hands in the shape of fists. "I'm really trying to enjoy it out here, but... I can't stop thinking about being fused as Malachite, how I used all my strength to hold her down in the ocean, and how I was always battling against Jasper to keep her bound to me."

"But it's not like that anymore. You don't have to be with Jasper." Steven said.

"That's not it. I... I miss her." Lapis said shocking me and Steven.

"What?!" We yell in shock.

"We were fused for so long." Lapis said looking over at us, a cold realization in her eyes.

"But... she's terrible." Steven said.

"I'm terrible!" Lapis said, turning to look at us. " I did horrible things! I-I broke your dad's leg. I stole Earth's ocean! Go on! Tell me I'm wrong!"

"But the difference is you know that you did something bad!" I told her. "Jasper- She doesn't think that she did anything wrong!" There was another rumble making all of us pause, as it started to rain. The boat vibrates as something climbs up towards them. All of us gasp as we see Jasper climb onto the yacht.

"Finally!" Jasper said, a smile on her face which sent chills down my spine. Lighting strikes over head.

"Jasper!" We yell.

"I thought I'd never catch up to you!" She said.

"You've been following us?" Lapis said, fear in her voice.

"I've been following you." Jasper takes a step forward and Steven takes out his shield. Jasper pauses, a look of confusion on her face. "Who are you?" She hissed.

"What? Don't remember me?" I asked.. I take a step forward and the colors darken around us. There was a faint gray tint over the boat. Jasper looks down at the color and it clicks.

"You." She said and looked down at Steven then at me. Jasper laughs. "This dulled-down version of Rose Quartz and Serendibite, though I guess you're not one of those that work for you now?" She locks eyes with me. "You're pointing that shield the wrong way. She's the one you should be afraid of."

"That's not true." Lapis said stiffly.

"You can't lie to me. I've seen what you're capable of. I thought I was a brute, but you... you're a monster." Thunder booms overhead as Lapis looks away, guilt on her face.

"I.."

"Lapis doesn't want anything to do with you!" Steven yelled.

"This is between… US!" She moves quickly behind me and swipes her arm at Steven. Steven groans in pain as he is knocked flying away from us on the deck. Jasper gave me an even harder push and I had to grab the railing of the ship so I wouldn't get lost at sea. I felt tears run down my eyes as my chest tightened.

"Steven! Suha!" Lapis yelled and tried to run towards us but Jasper grabs her hand and pulls her back. Jasper clasps her hands around Lapis' and kneels down.

"Let's be Malahite again." Jasper said and the thunder crashed again. I held my breath in shock.

"Why... would you want that?" Lapis asked in confusion.

"I was wrong about fusion. You made me understand! Malachite was bigger and stronger than both of us! We could fly!" Jasper said happily.

"Lapis, don't listen to her!" We yell. She gets up and turns to us.

"Stay out of this!" She yelled.

"I was terrible to you. I liked taking everything out on you. I needed to, I-I hated you. It was bad!" Lapis said, covering her face in apin.

"It'll be better this time. I've changed. You've changed me. I'm the only one who can handle your kind of power." Jasper says and approaches Lapis, backing her to the front of the yacht's bridge cabin. "Together, we'll be unstoppable!" Lapis looks over at Steven and I.

"NO!" Lapis said to her.

"What?!" Jasper asked angrily.

"What we had wasn't healthy. I never want to feel like I felt with you. Never again! So just, go!" Lais said defiantly.

"Lapis!" Jasper exclaimed.

"She said no! Leave her alone!" Steven yelled, running forward, standing only a few feet away from them.

"Steven! Get away!" I yelled in fear.

"This is your fault." Jasper growls. "I'LL SHATTER YOU!" Jasper charged towards Steven and I felt something snap. A wall of blue fire circled around Steven blocking him away from Jasper's reach while Lapis summons a giant water arm that punches right through the yacht and into Jasper, sending her flying off the yacht and far away into the ocean. The fire disappears and Steven runs over to Lapis and hugs her.

"Jasper…" I whispered, unsure how to feel about it.

"Lapis, you did it!" Greg rushes over to me and pulls me up.

"Thanks, Greg." I said painfully. The rest joined me as the boat began to sink because of the hole in the yacht's deck. Steven gets on Lapis' back and holds her arms out for me, levitating off the ground. I grab a hold of Greg.

"I guess I bought a boat after all." Greg says.

"Eh, sorry, Dad. But hey,the ocean's really beautiful from up here."  
"Yeah. It is." Lapis says and looks down at me. "So… fire?"

"I guess?" I said and she smiles.

"Cool." I smile back and look down, thinking about Jasper. A frown on my face. I couldn't help but feel conflicted about Jasper… and about Lapis.

"Yeah…." Once we reached Beach City and I had time to myself. I sang, , I still liked Lapis... but I couldn't help but feel strange about what I had learned.

watch?v=y4bTi8mpWpI&list=PLgvBWeI7-HJIzb9LOmnJdzdrAIIRANJlz&index=59&t=0s

Agnes Obel Riverside

"Down by the river by the boats

Where everybody goes to be alone

Where you won't see any rising sun

Down to the river we will run

When by the water we drinks to the dregs

Look at the stones on the riverbed

I can tell from your eyes

You've never been by the riverside

Down by the water the riverbed

Somebody calls you somebody says

Swim with the current and float away

Down by the river every day

Oh my god I see how everything is torn in the river deep

And I don't know why I go the way

Down by the riverside

When that old river runs past your eyes

To wash off the dirt on the riverside

Go to the water so every near

The river will be your eyes and ears

I walk to the borders on my own

Fall in the water just like a stone

Chilled to the marrow in them bones

Why do I go here alone

Oh my god I see how everything is torn in the river deep

And I don't know why I go the way

Down by the riverside

Oh my god I see how everything is torn in the river deep

And I don't know why I go the way

Down by the riverside

Oh oh

Ah ah ah

Oh oh

Ah ah ah

Oh oh

Ah ah ah

Down by the riverside

Down by the riverside


	21. (21) Bismuth

A/N: It's Been a while

The next few weeks were pretty interesting. Steven told me about the discussion he had with his dad about how he started working at the car wash, while Steven and Connie both saw Jasper when they were tracking a Gem monster with Pearl and found out that Jasper was forcing other Gem monsters to fuse with her which was… unsettling and it only got worse when Stevonnie (Steven and Connie fusion name) caught against Jasper and won which caused Amethyst to get depressed and the very next day Steven and Amethyst caught each other. I was sending some time with Garnet, who had become more overprotective. So it was strange that a very days passed and Steven yelled: "There's a Gem inside of Lion's mane!"

"A Gem?" Pearl and I asked.  
"Describe her." Garnet said.

"Uhh… hang on a sec." Steven said and popped his head into Lion's mane for a split second and came back. "She's big!" He does it a second time. "With rainbow hair and tattoos!"

"Rainbow hair...?" Pearl trails off and looks at Garnet concerned, even Garnet who was usually relaxed looked tense. "What does her gem look like?"

"It's... an innie?" Steven says confused and I had to stop myself from laughing, it was easy looking at Pearl's surprised and confused face.

"It can't be…" Pearl says looking at Garnet.

"Can't be what?" Amethyst asks, feeling just as confused as I was.

"Steven, bring her out." Garnet said, clinching her fists.

"Okay!" Steven says with a determined look on his face and his head disappears once more. Steven stops more a moment and puts his hand out. A large and bulky body gem with broad sounders and a strong, flat chest that is wider than her lower body appeared. She was very fall, especially since she was a non-fusion Gem, being slightly taller than Garmet. Her legs were noticeably shorter compared to her arms.

Her head outlines the shape of the rest of her body, with a large jaw and noticeable cheeks similar to Steven. Her hair was styled in several locks in a mixture of several bright tones, all held back by a lilac headband. She had a periwinkle complexion, and she sported a single tatoo-like marking of a star pattern on her left shoulder in a smokey dark red. Her gemstone was located in the center of her chest and was noticeably concave. She wore a black apron-like outfit, resembling a blacksmith, with a single brownish attachment and a pinkish-red star shaped belt around her waist. Her pants were a burgundy color, and she had dark brown boots.

She stared at the four of us in shock, Pearl had tears falling down her eyes and was covering her month while Garnet was in shock. "Wow, a total stranger." Amethyst says and Garnet takes off her visor.

"Pearl... Garnet…" The gem said nervously, as if she couldn't believe it.

"BISSS-MUUUTH!" Pearl yells and runs towards the gem with her arms raised and wraps them around her neck. Pearl laughs happily. "You're back!"

"Woah!" 'Bismuth' says happily and holds Pearl bridal style and tosses her lightly in the air and catches her, Pearl laughs happily with a smile on her face that I had yet to see before. Bismuth laughs and looks around the space. "The Pearl I know never jumps into my arms!" Hey, did somebody lose a Pearl? Who do you belong to?"

"Nobody!" Pearl says with her hands on her hips and Bismuth laughs. Garnet walks over to them.

"Alright, alright, settle down." Garnet says, with her visor back on. Pearl laughs.

"Oh, you're one to talk, oh, oh, excuse me, you're two to talk." Bismuth says slyly. Garnet scoffs and casually summoned her gaunlets and punched Bismuth playfully in the arm.

"Hey, cool it, your Ruby is showing." Bismuth says smiling and Amethyst pulls me over to where Steven and Lion are. The three of us exchange confused looks and say nothing, looking at the older gems.

"Where have you been? We thought you'd been captured! Or worse, shattered." Pearl said.

"Shatter me? Pshh, Homeworld couldn't lay a scratch on this Gem." Bismuth says confidently and pointed at herself. Amethyst clears her throat.

"Ahem. Who is this?" She asks with her hands on her hips, annoyed. Garnets puts her arm on Bismuth's shoulder.

"Guys, this is Bismuth. She's one of the original Crystal Gems." Garnet says happily.

"Oh, hey! New recruits!" Bismuth cheers and looks at Amethyst. "Welcome aboard, we could always use more Amethysts." She looks at me for a moment and frowns confused. "I've never seen a Gem like you before! But nice to meet you, awesome colors! We even have the same hairstyle." I blush and fiddle with my hair which causes Amethyst to poke me in the stomach annoyed. Bismuth looks over at Steven. "And who's this meatball?"

"Hi, I'm Steven! Y-You were in my lion and now you're in my house." Steven says with a semi-nervous smile as Bismuth walks over. Amethyst still had an annoyed look on her face. Bismuth bends down and holds out her hand and shakes Steven's who accepts it gracefully.

"Well, thanks for having me!" Bismuth says smiling.

"I can't believe it!" Pearl twirls and Garnet wraps an arm around her smiling widely. "Rose said she lost track of you at the battle for the Ziggurat! She was worried sick!" Bismuth blinks and her smile turns into a face of shock and worry. She releases Steven's hand and looks around for a split second.

"Wait! Where is Rose?" She asked and the smiles of Garnet and Pearl fade immediately.

"Hi, um... actually, I'm Rose's son. She kinda turned into me... well, I have her gem, the rest is from my dad." Steven says and lifts his shirt high enough so that she could see his gemstone.

"Ohh... There she is." Bismuth says looking at the gemstone and then at Steven. " You... do you know me?"

"No, I'm so sorry." Steven says sadly.

"It's not always easy to understand Rose's choices... But we have to stand behind them." Pearl says and I wince, it wasn't the nicest thing to say especially since Steven was in the room. I place a hand on Steven's shoulders and he sents me a small smile.

"Rose really is something else." Bismuth says looking at Steven, who didn't seem to have anything to say. She gets on her feet and smiles, wanting to lessen the tension. "I mean... Look at this! She really is something else!" She puts a hand on Garnet's shoulder and laughs. "Wow! Everything's changing! And we're building bases out of wood now?!" She walks over and tears a piece of the floor board up. " Hmph! Whose terrible idea was this? And where is everybody else?" She tosses the piece away.

"Everybody else?" Steven asks confused as Bismuth looks around the house.

"Yeah, the rest of the Crystal Gems! Old Crazy Lace, Biggs, Snowflake?" Bismuth says and all of us exchange worried looks. Without saying anything else, we warp to the Gem Battlefield, which was covered with strawberry bushes. Bismuth gasps in shock and walks forward, with us close behind her. " No- No way! We were just here! How long was I out?"

"It's been about 5,300 years. We, the Crystal Gems, were able to save the Earth…" Pearl said walking forward and placing a hand on Bismuth's shoulders.

"But we're all that's left of The Rebellion, huh?" Bismuth asks and Pearl sheds a few tears, Bismuth was in the same state. "Oh, come on Pearl. You know I can't take it when you cry like that!" Bismuth whips away some of her tears as Garnet walks towards her.

"I'm sorry." Pearl said sadly.

"No, no need to apologize." Bismuth says and holds one hand with Garnet and rests her other on Pearl's shoulders.

" Homeworld's final attack on Earth wiped out all of the Crystal Gems." Garnet said as Bismuth looks around at the battlefield.

"Rose was able to protect Garnet and myself and by the looks of it, she was able to protect you as well." Pearl stated and Bismuth picks up a giant battle axe almost the size of he body.

"I knew those Homeworld elites were twisted." She said lowering her voice ominously making my skin crawl. "How many of us did they shatter?! Crazy Lace? Biggs? ...Snowflake?! If I was there, I- I could've stopped it!"

"It's not like they've stopped trying." Garnet said and Bismuth's head snaps back.

"What's that?" Bismuth asked angrily.

"Homeworld still has its eyes on this planet." Garnet explained.

"We continue to thwart their plans over and over." Pearl said and Steven and Amethyst run over to join their side.

"But they just keep coming back!" Steven yelled angrily.

"Yup. They want us bad." Amethyst said with a chill tone.

"Good. I thought I wouldn't get another chance to show those uppercrusts who's boss! Let's show 'em what happens when you mess with the Crystal Gems!" Bismuth yells and aims the axe at the strawberry bush.

"Yeah!" Steven said determined.

"Bismuth, the Gems on Homeworld outnumber us by a huge amount." Garnet said trying to calm down Bismuth.

"And their technology far surpasses anything we have available on Earth." Pearl said standing side by side the two. Bismuth laughs and wraps her arms around the two.

"What else is new? Garnet, remember when you and I took on a battalion of Quartz soldiers? We walked out with our stones shining brighter than when we walked in." Bismuth said and Garnet returned the smile.

"As I recall, it was three battalions." Garnet said adjusting her visor happily.

"And, Pearl, remember when we stopped that drop ship? I'll never forget the look on that Nephrite's face when you pulled her out of the cockpit!" Pearl laughs.

"I know. How embarrassing for her." She says.

"Ha-HA! So let's pick up where we left off! To the foooorge!" Bismuth cheered.

"Yay!" Steven cheered, hugging Garnet's legs. "To the forge!"

"Yo, what's a forge?" Amethyst asked confused. They warp to a dark mountain side, Steven was very impressed with Bismuth and was laughing at all of her jokes, Amethyst seemed jealous and confused while Pearl and Garnet were just happy to have their old friend back.

"Are we on an active volcano?" I asked.

"Yep, perfect spot for building weapons." Bismuth explained happily as they enter the forge. My gem was glowing and the area around us started getting darker and darker.

"Woah Suha! Is that you?!" Steven cheered as body started to get darker. My footsteps were leaving cracks in the ground the darker it became.

"I don't know what's happening." I said. I knew that my powers had something to do with the darkness, but this was something entirely new. I wasn't disappearing which was nice, I could feel myself getting stronger. I felt a sharp pain hit my head and everyone froze.

"What. Is. That." Bismuth asked confused and I looked up. In front of me was dark creature with glowing white eyes, it leviated above the ground and had a lack of arms and legs. It had two big ear like horns (Think Hollow Knight Shade) and looked intimidating and cute. I blinked at it and it blinked back.

"Get back!" Steven said with his pink shield summoned. It looked over at Steven and my gem stopped glowing and it disappeared. There was silence and we moved forward, with no one saying a single word. It took for Bismuth to release a pool of lava, something she called a 'lava bath' for the rest of the group to start talking again. Amethyst seemed to be feeling the same thing I was as the rest of the group was rather into the new comer. Steven tried to get Amthyst to warm up to Bismuth but she just crossed her arms and watched.

"Right. Sorry, I- I don't know. I mean, she's one of the original Crystal Gems and no one ever mentioned her to me, not even Rose? Don't you think that's a little bit, uh... suspicious?"

"I... guess that is a little... strange." Steven trails off as Bismuth walks over and updates Amethyst's whip to an even more dangerous one.

"Doesn't this feel weird to you?" I asked Steven.

"What do you mean?" Steven asked.

"I know we're not the most… passive group but it feels like everything's getting more and more dangerous." I said as Steven winced at Amethyst swinging around her new weapon and frowns. "You see it too."

"Yeah I do, but everyone seems to happy." Steven says and looks at me nervously. "Maybe she'll come down after a while?"

He hoped.

He was wrong. The more Bismuth was around, the more dangerous the Crystal Gems training was. Steven and I just watched on nervously. "We are powerful! We are important! We! are! the Crystal Geeeeems!" Bismuth says and destroys a bolder with her hammer hands.

"Do you get-" He started.

"A sense of deja vu?" I asked him and he nodded.

"She's a lot like Sugilite…" Steven said.

"And you know how that ended.." I said. It took a few days, but it seemed that Bismuth was finally cooling down. She was playing card games with us and helping up make food, she was even eating pizza. Maybe I was wrong… After all we were all sitting down and watching tv together.

"The powerful, legendary demon blade, possessed by Muramasa. With this demon blade, I will be the most powerful fighter in all the world!" Lonely Blade said.

"No, Lonely Blade! Don't use it!" Steven told the tv.

"What? If that thing's got infinite power, then, of course Lonely Blade should use it. It just makes sense." Bismuth said taking a bite out of the pizza.

"I doesn't have to make sense. It's entertainment." Pearl whispered to Bismuth so Steven couldn't hear.

"Infinite... Poweeeeer!" Lonely Blade yelled and they spent the rest of the day watching the show. Once it was night and Steven and I were in our pajamas, we opened up the couch so Bismuth could relax on it. I was relaxing on the top bunk as usual.

"Bismuth, you can chill out here tonight and... sleep, if you want to." Steven said happily.

"You know what? I think I'll give it a try. I like these new Crystal Gem rituals." Bismuth said cheerfully.

"You know, usually, when I meet a new Gem, they try and kill me and it takes me forever to become friends with them. I guess I mean, I'm really glad you're here." Steven said and Bismuth looked a little upset at Steven's explanation but smiled.

"Me, too. Glad to have another chance. So, tomorrow, you gonna show me what you got on the battlefield?" Bismuth asked and looked over at me. "You too Suha! You have some pretty cool powers!" I smiled at her.

"If you don't mind taking it easy on me." I said and looked down for a second, frowning. "I don't really like showing my powers, no one else seems to like them…" Steven looked like he was about to say something but I shook his head no.

"What about you Steven?" Bismuth asked.

"Oh, I mean, I-I would, but, most of my weapons are for defense." He summons his shield, it was amazing to see how easy it was for him now. "Oh, except for one." Steven pulls out Rose's sword for Lion and Bismuth gasps in awe.

"Rose's sword. My finest piece of work." Bismuth said kneeling down to look at the blade.

"You made this?" Steven asked and puts the sword out for her to take.

"You really don't remember, huh?" Bismuth asked with a sad smile and takes the sword and they take a seat on the couch. " Rose Quartz changed my life. I came to Earth thinking this was just another colony. Build another arena for important fighters to fight in. Build another spire for important thinkers to think in. And then, I met her. Just another Quartz soldier, made right here in the dirt, but she was different. And she was different because she decided to be. And she asked me what I wanted to build, and I'd never heard that before. And Gems never hear they can be anything other than what they are, but Rose opened our eyes."

"Everybody always tells me how great Mom was. I just don't feel like I can ever measure up to her." Steven said and Bismuth laughs.

"I can't believe this, that I'm the one giving the pep talk to Rose's... Rose's...?" She looks over at Steven for help.

"...Son." Steven said.

"Right. You are different. That's what's so exciting. You don't have to be like Rose Quartz. You can be someone even better. You can be you. And you know what? You deserve an even better weapon." Steven looks at her surprised and smiles.

"See you later Suha!" Steven says waving at me.

"Later, don't stay up too late." I told him and waved goodbye to them.

I was asleep for a good while until I felt a presence near me. I opened my eyes and saw that my gem was glowing again. I winced at the light and looked around. "Steven?" I looked around and saw that neither of them was here. "Bismuth? Steven?!" I looked over at the warp pad and froze. The shadow that was there before was standing on the warp pad. I walked towards it and looked into it's eyes, it showed Bismuth and Steven fighting.

"You should've listened to me, Rose! I would've taken the war to Homeworld and shatter the Diamonds! I would've liberated... everyone!" I heard a voice whisper. I moved towards it and placed my hand on it but it disappeared. I felt my body being pushed forward and I looked around and saw I was in the forge. The shadow had disappeared and I saw that the floor had opened up with a hole in the middle similar to the Kindergarten. I could hear Steven and Bismuth yelling and my gem stopped glowing. I jumped down and froze.

There Steven was with his mother's sword through Bismuth's chest, there was a large weapon on the ground and Steven had tears in his eyes. The two stared at each other in disbelief. "...You should've shattered me back then... At least if I were in pieces, I wouldn't have to know how little I mattered to you... You didn't even tell 'em...! You bubbled me away and didn't ever tell your friends... My friends…" Bismuth said defeated.

"I'm going to tell them! I'm gonna tell them everything." Steven said and Bismuth laughs, with tears in her eyes.

" Then you really are better than her." She says with a single tear falling from her face and a dark look in her eyes. There was a puff of smoke and Bismuth's gemstone was now on the ground, Bismuth gone. Steven bubbles Bismuth and pushes the large weapon into the lava.

"Steven…" I said and Steven freezes, looking at me with tears running down his face and a terrified expression. I walk over to him, ignoring the smoke coming from my feet.

"S-Suha… I.. B-Bismuth…" I wrap my arms around him and Steven cries siletnly.

"It's okay…" I told him. "It's okay.." We stay there for a moment and my gem glows again and the shadow appears. I feel Steven tense and a place a hand on his shoulder. "Don't worry, it's not going to harm us." I tell him and place my hand through the shadow and felt a sensation of pulling and opened my eyes once my feet touched the ground.

"Steven! Suha!" Pearl says.

"Oh, hey, dudes." Amethyst says and I let go of Steven and he limps over for a second but the gems come running over, noticing his injuries. They look down at the bubbled form of Bismuth. Pearl and Amethyst gasp in shock and Steven looks down.

"There's something I need to tell you." Steven says and he does exactly that, he explains about the Breaking Point, Bismuth's plans and what Rose did. Garnet pats Steven on the head and takes the bubble. All of us go to where the rest of the bubbled gems are. Steven and I stop and look at Amethyst, Garnet and Pearl as they sadly push Bismuth up with the rest. Steven walks away silently and I follow him, he leans over the pouch looking at the sea. I place an arm around him and before the two of us realized the rest of the gems had followed and we wordlessly look up at the passing shooting star.


	22. (22) Back to the Barn

Amethyst and Steven went to go visit Lapis and Peridot. Though the peace didn't last for long. Garnet grabbed my arm and pulled me with Pearl to the warp pad. "Garnet!" I yelled we warped to the Barn where there were… Rubies? They were being held up in the air by Lapis and she bubbled them.

"They're so cute." I said as we walked towards them. There was a big red ship parked nearby. There was a familiar ding and Peridot, Steven and Amethyst stared at them in a mixture of shock and confusion.

"The Rubies are back?!" Steven yelled surprised, running forward.

"They showed up on their little ship acting very angry. So I put them in time-out." Lapis said simply and looked at me. "Hey Suha."

"Hey Lapis, you look happier." I said smiling.

"Back to the matter at hand." Garnet said releasing her hold on my arm.

"I thought we were done with these guys!" Steven said confused and walked up to the floating Rubies. "Why did you come back here?" He asked with his hands on his hips.

"Let's release one and just ask what they're up to." Garnet advised, lifting up her hand.

"Ooh, ooh! Can I pick?" Steven asked, raising his hand.

"Go for it." Garnet said and Stven walked forward and looked at them for a split second and pointed.

"Hmm... Oh! Let's talk to Leggy!" He said happily and she looked at him.

"Leggy?" Pearl asked confused.

"I named them based on the placement of their gems. There's Leggy, Army, Navy, Eyeball, and, uh... Doc. Leggy seems like the easiest to talk to." He pointed at each of the Rubies.

"Leggy, come on down!" Lapis said and pointed at the water bubble and it popped. Leggy fell on flat on the ground.

"Hey! Hi, I'm Steven. What brings you back to Earth?" He asked.

"Uh…" She said and took a seat on the ground. She slowly lifted her arms up. "I... don't... know?"

"Can we keep her?" I asked Garnet.

"No we can't." She told me and I frowned.

"Oh, uh, I understand. I used to forget why we go on missions all the time." Steven said and the Gem walked over to the fence.

"'I'll just go stand over here then." She said and stood by the fence.

"Let's take a chance on Army." Steven said and the bubble popped making the gem fall.

"Good afternoon!-" Steven started and Army growled and ran forward.

"RAAH!" She said enraged caring forward to Steven. "I'll tear you limb- Huh?"

But Garnet simply picked her up from the back of her tunic. "Hey! Don't be like that." Garnet said as though she was scolding a child, but I guess since she was part of a Ruby and probably a much older Ruby, they were like children to her.

"Why I oughta razzle-frazzle your-" She flails her limps around while mumbling angrily.

"Aww." Garnet says and tucks Army under her arm.

"Hey, what the-" She continues to flail her legs.

"Next!" Garnet said happily.

"Ehh... Navy?" Navy lands on her feet.

"If I remember correctly, we were on Earth- " She pauses and notices all of us staring at her, which caused her to blush and look away. "Uh... hah! This is so embarrassing!" She covers her face in embarrassment. "Oh-hoh-" She looks back at the Gems, lightly screams and cowers next to Leggy.

"Okay, Eyeball?" Steven says and Eyeball falls on the ground and immediately stands up.

"I'm not tellin' y'all nothin' about nothin'!" Eyeball says and crosses her arm, growling.

"The only one left now is, uh... Doc." Doc lands gracefully on her feet and glares at them.

"Where's Jasper? Last time we came, you tricked us into playing that stuuupid game!" She yelled pointing at them. " Then, you said." She air quotes and Amethyst walks away making Peridot and I stare at her for a moment. "She's on Neptune", so we looked, and she wasn't there. She wasn't on Neptune! Or any other planet in this whole dang solar system! Tell us where she is right now."

"No games, no tricks, and no slick disguises." Army jumps out of Garnet's arms and lands behind the angry Doc, Eyeball jumps and flips over landing next to Army, Leggy jumps and rolls over on the ground and lands on her hands and knees while Navy just marches over smiling.

"Yeah!" The Homeworld Rubies cheer.

"HEY!" A Jasper like voice says and everyone looks over and sees Amethyst who shapeshifted herself to look like Jasper, though she was purple. "I'm right here." All of us look at Amethyst confused.

"Is she serious? There's no way this is gonna-" Pearl starts.

"Look, it's Jasper!" Army cheers and so do the rest of the Rubies. Eyeball pushes her way pass them and marches over to Amethyst.

"Jasper! I'm Ruby 1F4 Cut 4ND. I fought in the war for Earth." Eyeball says and does the Diamond salute.

"Uh... At ease." Amethyst says.

"I was on the ground in Facet 6 when I heard the tale of the Facet 9 Kindergarten Quartz that could. They said you popped out of the ground with your helmet on, and took out 80 Crystal Gems before the sun went down. When I found out this mission was to look for you, I nearly dissipated my form! It is... an honor to finally meet you." She says happily.

"Yep! That's me! Always huge, never small, all the- all the time since I was made!" Amethyst said confused.

"Wait a minute!" She narrows her eyes in suspicion. "You look different than I thought you would."

"Oh, here it is." Pearl says placing her hand on her forehead.

"Oh, you must mean my tan! You know, from the sun!" Amethyst points at the sun and Eyeball narrows her eyes glaring at the sun.

"Stupid Earth sun!" Eyeball says and kicks up a clod of dirt. "I hate this planet!"

"Curse this planet!" Amethyst yelled and kicked up some dirt and placed her hands on her hips. The Rubies immediately follow and stomp on the ground. After a while they stop.

"Well, it's a good thing we finally found you. Yellow Diamond is awaiting your return. We'll take you back to Homeworld right away." Eyeball said smiling.

"No! I-I mean-" Amethyst's actual voice comes out, startling the other gems. She clears her throat and puts on the voice "I, Jasper, have decided to stay on Earth."

"What?' Doc asked.

"Why?" Leggy asked.

"Yeah, why, Jasper?" Navy asked, placing her hands together. Amethyst looks back at them.

"Because... I gotta stay here! With these guys! *walks next to the Crystal Gems* Yup, gotta keep 'em prisoner." Lapis rolls her eyes. "For the Diamonds. Eyeball claps her hands solemnly while Navy wipes a tear, the other Homeworld Rubies join in the clapping and whipping as well.

"Jasper…" Leggy says.

"Such devotion." Navy says and Doc walks up, wiping a tear from her eyes.

"Well, Yellow will definitely wanna know about this. You'll have to file a report at the nearest Diamond base." Doc asked and the other Rubies mutter that they don't know where it is. "You dummies! It's uh, it's... hm." She looks round and Eyeball points at the moon, that was visible in the bright sky. Amethyst convinces the Rubies to let them on the their ship and Garnet and Pearl chide Amethyst. Lapis and Peridot don't bother coming with them. They pretend to be upset that they're going with the Rubies.

The Roaming Eye was a red and teardrop-shaped craft vaguely similar to the Red Eye. The center of the ship had a yellow triangular indent where eyes are located. At the bottom of the Roaming Eye there were three spikes protruding from the ship; two in the front and one in the back, most likely used as landing gear. The main door was located below the triangular screen and opens outward to form a ramp. The top of the ship had a hatch for entering and exiting the ship. The interior consisted of a single room, its size considerably larger than the ship's exterior would suggest. There were five consoles located around the perimeter of the room, each with a chair and window screen displaying a view of the outside. The largest console was located at the front of the room and was used for piloting the vessel.

Amethyst puts Doc on her lap and I were I saw Eyeball look over with Envy. It took some time but they made it to the moon base. Doc uses her gem to shine a light like a flashlight and the Rubies began to step out of the ship.

"All clear!" Doc said.

"Right this way, Jasper."

"Oh, Jasper, won't you ever let us go?" Pearl said dramatically. Steven jumps up and began to float but Garnet places her hand on his and pulls him down.

"Look at this place, frozen in time. An Era-1 base. Her Era-1 base." Eyeball shined a light at the mural, who was probably Pink Diamond, since Yellow had a similar mural, there was Blue Diamond and White Diamond. I felt my gem glow for a moment and the Rubies glare at me, ready to battle.

"Er, sorry." I say.

"It was a tragedy, what happened to her." Eyeball continued, I could feel dread in my heart, this felt familiar.

"Who is that anyway?" Leggy asked.

"Were you made yesterday?! That, is Pink Diamond. Jasper, maybe it's best if you explain." Eyeball said. Amethyst told Eyeball that she should explain.

"I understand. She was your original Diamond." We began to climb the staircase to the top control room. "Earth was Pink Diamond's colony. Everything was going smoothly at first. Kindergartens were incubating their first soldiers. Big, warm pieces of Quartz, like this mountain over here-" She looks at Amethyst. "* -were being created from its rich minerals with great success. Then BAM! One of Pink Diamond's very own Quartz soldiers started a rebellion and took it too far." She turned towards Amethyst. "Where were you when it happened?"

"Oh, you know, around?" Amethyst gasped.

"I was there. I saw it with my own eye. I watched the leader of the Crystal Gems, Rose Quartz, shatter Pink Diamond!" Eyeball said and everyone freezed. Steven glared in disbelief at Garnet and Pearl, who was shivering violently and covering her mouth respectively. I closed my eyes in pain.

"No! Rose Quartz would never do that!" Steven said tearing up. " A-And, sure, she had to fight but- but she would never shatter someone!" Everyone stared at him and the Rubies went upward to the control panel which was broken. The Rubies went back to the ship and Amethyst turned herself back to normal. Steven walked forward and looked at the mural and I followed him placing a hand on his shoulder. He looked at me with a conflicted expression on his face.

Doc comes out and sees Amethyst in her original form. The Rubies assemble into a Giant Ruby and Steven grabs my hand and runs forward. "Yeah! We won't let you trick us again!" Giant Ruby said.

"Hey, Rubies!" Steven yelled and stood by the Moon Base door with me on the other side. "If you're gonna fight, take it outside." Steven activates the door switch, opening the door and the giant got stuck halfway out the door.

"You can't get rid of us that easy!" She yelled. Pearl and Garnet fuse into Sardonyx with Amethyst on her shoulders. She had vermillion skin and pale apricot-colored hair, styled into a tetrahedron with very rounded corners. Her torso and legs greatly resemble Garnet's, but with less mass. As a fusion, she had four arms and inherits the same locations of her gemstones as her components. She wore a black, tailcoat tuxedo-leotard with a tangerine bow tie and a small, black star on her chest. This tailcoat comes from Pearl's sash ribbon. The underside of the tail of her tailcoat is the same shade of tangerine as her bow tie. She wore two-toned, mauve-gray leggings under crimson tips surrounding the top part of her feet. On her first set of arms, she wore white gloves, exposing her hands except a white covering on her middle fingers like Garnet's. On her second set of arms, located on her abdomen, she wore white gloves that closely resemble Sapphire's gloves that extended to her elbows.

She wore round shades that resemble those of Alexandrite, but were slightly transparent and tinted with a dark reddish-ginger color, which revealed that Sardonyx has four eyes, two on the bottom which are large and round, and two on the top which are thin, small, and narrow. Her top pair of eyes were magenta, while the bottom pair were crimson-colored. Sardonyx had a small gap between her front teeth and plump lips. Her face were rather triangular, and her feet had small, bright pink diamonds on them.

"I bet she can." Steven said and Sardonyx took out her hammer and slammed it into the Giant Ruby.

"Oof!" She says and unfused back into the Rubies that were sucked out the door into space. Eyeball was sucked out the door and she grabbed Steven and Steven grabbed me and they were pulled out with her. Steven and I scream as we get sucked into space. I grab Steven and pull him close to me and there was a bright light.


	23. (23) Bubbled

I opened my eyes as I heard a ringing in my eyes. "Ouch." I said and noticed my voice sounds different. "Woah." I watched as the Rubies scattered in the distance. "The Rubies? Huh? Whoa!" I looked around at the color. "Oh I'm in the bubble shield." I was twirling and floating at high speed. "Oh, geez! AAAHH!" There was a collision and I saw that the bubble impacted with Eyeball.

"You-" Eyeball froze and looked at me in confusion. "Really?! A fusion?! Why did you open the stupid door?!"

"Fu-" I froze and brought my hands up. They weren't the usual complexion. "Another one? Wait another one? What do you - I mean? Steven fused with Amethyst?! Woah that's awesome, congratulations! Thanks!" I pat myself on the pat and took out my… well Steven's phone which was much too small for my large hands.

The person.. Gem hybrid… me.. Was pretty or handsome.. No beautiful that was for sure. I saw tall, probably even taller than Garnet, I had an athletic build with muscular thighs and a nice figure. Definitely darker than Stevonnie's complexion was a thick head of hair that was white in color with pale eyes which must've been the reflect of the cluster on… Suha.. me? The outfit was a mixture of Steven's shorts though they were darker and Suha's dress since it spread out in like a skirt. The sides were open showing a some skin and I was wearing big dark shoes. The shirt looked like a crop top at first with Steven's familiar star in the middle of the dark purple shirt though it had an attached jacket that reached down to my ankles.

"Wow, we… I look great!" I said happily. "First fusion, awesome." Eyeball regained her balance and stood on top of the bubble.

"If you're done talking to yourselves, there goes that stupid rock of a planet." Eyeball said and looked at her platoon and growls. "This is a mess!" She started pacing around the bubble. "What'll I say in my report? How will I even make my report? This is a nightmare!" She stared at me. "Ant this is all your… your shorter you fault!"

"Whoa! Hey, no, it's not! Wait no, it is… Steven did open the airlock and sent everyone flying into space... Okay, so maybe that was my fault. I'm sorry. There, are you happy?" I said.

"No. You're lucky you're in that bubble, or I'd pop you right in the face." Eyeball said pushing her face towards me.

"Wow great!" I said rolling my eyes and cross my arms. "If you're going to be a grump about it,t then we can just float in silence until we both die!" Eyeball crosses her arms.

"Sounds great!" She yelled.

"Fine!"

"I can't wait!"

"Me, neither!" We continued to float out in space and some time passed. Eventually I fot bored and took out Steven's phone.

"What? No signal? Come on, I'm right by a satellite!" I yelled angrily as the satellite beeps and flies away. "If I don't die out here, first thing I do back on Earth is change my phone plan."

Eyeball sits up and growls. "I shouldn't have ever come back to that dumb planet!" She sat back down on the bubble. "When I heard rumors there might still be Crystal Gems on Earth, I couldn't believe it. A thousand years of fighting were all for nothing! And Rose Quartz might still be alive? She must be!" She rolled to her side. "Why else would someone as important as Jasper be back on Earth? For closure, that's why. I wanted it, too. I wanted to see Rose Quartz with my own eye. At the very least, I thought Jasper might have some answers, but... It wasn't even her; just another trick."

"That can't be. That's what you really wanted? To see Rose Quartz?" I asked and she clenched her fists.

"More than anything."

"Really? Not to… I don't know get angry at her?" I asked, she didn't say anything and I sighed. "Well, then today's your lucky day."

"How's that?' Eyeball asked.

"I… know where Rose Quartz is." I said, the gem turned over and faced me.

"What? Where is she?!" Eyeball asked.

"... She turned into me… well Steven me… not this me… well sort of this me." I explained.

"Right. And I have two eyeballs, which I don't! You expect me to believe anything, don't you? Fool me once, shame on me. Fool me four times, you already fooled me, and you can't fool me again." Eyeball said angrily.

"Look, I can prove it!" I pointed to my gem, well one of my gems. "I have her Rose Quartz gem!"

"That's more of a pinkish-red than a real Rose Quartz reddish-pink." She said.

I groaned."That's because you're looking at it through my bubble! Hold on... Here, check this out!" I said and summoned the shield. " Look, I can summon her shield! It's got a rose on it and everything!"

"Who cares about her shield? Her huge sword is what I remember." Eyeball said.

"Uh, I left that in my Lion." I dispel the shield and there was a pulse of light and Steven and Suha fall on the ground.

Suha's POV

Steven takes out his phone and swims up to Eyeball and pressed his phone against his bubble. "Look. Tell me you don't see the resemblance." He showed Eyeball a picture of Rose and plucked his lips and struck a pose. I held my breath to not laugh.

"Are you kidding me? You're despicable. We're gonna die out here, and you're just gonna make fun of me until we do!" She sighed and turned away from us. "You're even crueler than Rose Quartz…"

Steven looked at the picture on his phone, with a sad look on his face. An asteroid storm passes and the bubble protects them inside but Eyeball gets hit in the eye and her gem cracks. "Eyeball!" We yell and I took a deep breath, time to make a huge risk.

"Steven pop the bubble and hold your breath." I tell him.

"What?! No way!" He yelled.

"Steven!" I yelled and he froze. "Trust me." I thought back to the moon base, if I was right then… I winced. Steven popped the bubble and and lean forward and grab Eyeball. Steven was already in the bubble by the time I looked back.

"Are you alright?" I asked and froze. I… was breathing in space… I felt confusion and dread hit me as Steven extends the bubble towards us and pushes us to him.

"Oh, geez! You okay?" Steven yelled. Eyeball gasped and pushed herself away from us.

"Get off me!" She glitched and covered her face.

"Whoa! What's wrong?" Steven yelled and we noticed her cracked gem. Eyeball's body glitches in and out.

"Fine. I guess I got nothing else to lose." Eyeball said and slowly Steven leaves over and puckers his lips, he inched towards Eyeball, who looked rather uncomfortable. He sticked out his tongue and licked her gem. Eyeball grips his cheeks and pushes him away making Seven smack into her.

"WHAT was THAT supposed to be?! What in the cosmos is wrong with... you?" Eyeball's gem slowly began to glow and the crack sealed itself. Steven shakes his head.

"See? It worked!"

"I... I can't believe it! There were rumors back during the war, that Rose Quartz could heal her Crystal Gem soldiers, keeping her small army in contention with the superior forces of Homeworld. Wow! It really is you! Rose Quartz!" Eyeball said. Eyeball and Steven began laughing while I looked on awkwardly. "The mighty Rose Quartz…" Eyeball snickers and her gem shimmered, she pulled out chisel knife.

"Huh?" Steven chucked nervously.

"I never thought I'd get a chance like this. I can't believe you're all mine!" Eyeball dashed towards Steven and I grabbed her arm as my gem began to glow. Eyeball's arm turned grey and the weapon vanished as Steven expanded the bubble to create some distance.

"Wha- What the heck?!" Eyeball yelled and pointed at me. "What did you do to me?! You stupid gem! Obviously you're not some idiotic and worthless human if you can breath through space?!" She flinged herself towards me to punch me and Steven grabs Eyeball, held his breath, dispelled the bubble and flung her away into space. Her arm still gray.

"Whoa!" Eyeball yelled and Steven resummoned the bubble and I grabbed Steven and held him close. There was a bright light.

Fusion's POV

They fused again and I watched as Eyeball drifted away in the distance. I curled up in dread and the bubble shrank around me. I continued to float away, with the only company being myself. I wasn't sure how much time passed but by the time I opened my eyes I felt arms surround me. Garnet, Amethyst and Peal were hugging me. Everyone cried in joy and relief. Once everyone settled down Pearl started to pilot the ship as it made it's way back to earth. I sat on the captain's chairs taring out to space as Garnet stood beside me. After the shock of my form, they unfused.

Suha's POV

Steven and I shared the captain seat. "... How come nobody told me about Pink Diamond?" Steven asked and I felt a sense of pain hit my head and I tried to ignore it.

"We all did what we had to during the war. Everything's different now." Garnet explained.

"But did Mom really do it? Did she really... shatter her?" Steven asked.

"She had to. The Earth belonged to Pink Diamond. Destroying her was the only way to save the planet. For Amethyst to be herself, for Pearl to be free, for me to be together. For you to exist." Garnet said.

"But I thought... A-At least she'd never…" Steven trailed off.

"She didn't always do what was best for her. But she always did what was best for Earth."

"Even if it meant shattering someone…" Steven said.

"Yes." Steven sighed deeply.

"... Thanks for telling me." Steven said and I watched as Earth came into view. The pain increased and I felt myself collapse and hit my head.

"Ow.." I said and opened my eyes and saw I was in a dark room. I pushed myself off the ground and walked forward. There was a large object in the middle of a large room. The structure was bright pink with four spider legs protruded from it.

"It's smaller than the others." I mentioned, my voice was deeper than usual and what others? Each side had flower like shaped holes and the font had a bigger flower designed near the top. The top of the… palanquin had a flower structure protruded out of it in the shape of Pink Diamond; a circle was drawn towards the bottom of the structure represented where Pink Diamond's gem, the structure was seen with pink transparent drapes, and was upright and not yet covered with one enormous vegetation. Her throne also has the all original Great Diamond Authority insignia at the top.

I saw the remains of pink gem shards. My head only seemed to hurt even more. I felt my legs give out in pain. I picked up one of the pieces. "Fake… But why... I had to find out." I heard two familiar voices speak and ran… to Earth.

"I guess I have to face  
That in this awful place  
I shouldn't show a trace of doubt  
But pulled against the grain  
I feel a little pain  
That I would rather do without  
I'd rather be...  
Free-ee-ee  
Free-ee-ee  
Free...  
I'd rather be  
Free-ee-ee  
Free-ee-ee  
Free...  
Free-ee-ee  
Free-ee-ee  
Free...  
From here"


	24. (24) Know Your Fusion

"Talk about rude awakening." I said looking around at Smoky Quartz, Garnet and Pearl on top of me. Smoky Quartz had three arms (one right arm and one left arm with two fore-arms stemming from the elbow), a dark mauve complexion, dark busy eyebrows, and peach freckles on their cheeks and shoulders. Their hair reached to their shoulders and was styled similarity to Amethyst's and it's dark brown color and slight curliness came from Steven. Their hair often obscured their left eye and was slightly taller than Jasper and had a large, wide build which stemmed from both Amethyst and Steven's body structure. They had plump lips, a small nose, and a round face. Their outfits combined, Smoky Quartz had a pale mauve version of Amethyst's tank top with a jagged bottom peeked out from underneath Steven's salmon-pink t-shirt with a yellow star, which was now off-shoulder and stretched out, both of which were now midriffs, along with Steven's jeans, which resemble jean shorts, and Amethyst's dark mauve boots and black leggings with mauve stars on the knees. Their gemstones were located on their chest and navel.

Smoky Quartz unfused and was left with Steven and Amethyst. "Sorry…" They say.

"Suha, you're awake!" Steven cheered and she received a hug all around frome everyone.

"How long was I out for?" I asked.

"Just a few days." Amethyst said.

"Sorry for the rough landing." Steven said and Amethyst groaned.

"What are you talking about?!" Pearl said jumping off her head.

"That was amazing!" Garnet said and placed a hand on Steven's head, who blushed and laughed happily. Pearl hugged Amethyst, who of course blushed. I looked around confused.

"Oh Amethyst! You've been such a good influence on him!" Pearl said.

"It's... kinda the other way around." Amethyst said embarrassed, scratching her head.

"You didn't tell us that yo-yo can grapple." Garnet said impressed.

"It can do so much stuff!" Steven said.

"Wait, so do you use it like a lasso or a flail?" Pearl asked.

"It's better than a flail!" Amethyst cheered.

"It's a toy!" Steven said.

"It's so unexpected." Pearl said happily.

"Give us the play-by-play." Garnet said.

"So… there we were…" Amethyst started and they explained everything that happened and how Smoky Quartz was created. Once she finished that story, Steven explained what she missed which wasn't too much besides Peridot bubbled one of the gems that Jasper had kept in a cage.

"What about Steven and Suha's fusion?" Amethyst asked. "Suven?"

"Maybe not Suven." Suha said. "Since… I found out I'm not… part-human, but full gem."

"Wait-" Pearl said.

"WHAT?!" Amethyst yelled and Steven nodded.

"Yeah, Suha was amazing, she was breathing out in space and helped me get rid of Eyeball!" Steven explained.

"Well, that explains why you didn't float like Steven." Garnet said nodding.

"So… There should definitely be 'Quartz' in the name." Steven said.

"I agree." I said. "Types of Quartz… There's so many varieties of Quartz…" My eyes lit up. "Morion! Morion Quartz! Or Morion for short!"

"Morion huh?" Steven said. "I like it!"

I smiled at Steven and we high fived. There was a bright light.

Morion's POV

"We fused again…" I said.

"They're so tall…" Amethyst said. "Taller than Garnet, heck smaller than Smoky!"

"I'm pretty sure I can be taller, but if I was too tall, then the house might collapse." I explained.

"So the combination of Suha and Steven's powers…" Pearl said. "What can you guys do?"

"Well the bubble shield stayed and so did the greying power." I said and placed my hand on my stomach gem. There was a light and…

"Woah, no way! Put lion's not even here!" Amethyst said. Looking at Rose's sword. I summoned the shield.

"Shield and Sword." I said and they dissipated with light. I placed my hand on the ground where there was a shadow. There was the shadow creature from before. "Hey Shadow!" It waved at me and then the house turned grey.

"Hey! What's happening?!" Pearl yelled.

"Morion stop!" Garnet yelled and I felt myself panic and unfuse.

Suha's POV

Steven looked upset and I'm sure that I looked the same. "Fine, Smoky Quartz can have cool, powers but when I try mine they're not okay." I said and felt a sense of deja vu put pushed it away.

"That's not what we-" Garnet said and I looked over at Shadow who had it's hand out. I grabbed it and felt shut my eyes, feeling a push and opened my eyes. I was at the volcano where the Armory was. I couldn't explain it, but I felt at peace there. The one good thing about not being part-human and me realizing that I wasn't, meant I didn't have to eat and I didn't have to go back to the Beach House.


	25. (25) Steven's Dream

A month had passed since Steven and I decided on the name Morion. But it seemed like Beach City never sleeps, or at least their jobs to protect humans never sleeps. I went along with Steven and Connie to the Buddwick Public Library on Lion and opened up a a book that had a bunch of different sketches and stories of various Gem structures. It was titled Bubby Buddwick's journal.

Buddy traveled to the Gem Batttlefield and sketched the ruins and it's architectural remains in his journal and met Garnet and Peal for the second time when they saved him from a sea gem monster. Pearl marked spots on Buddy's map that he should avoid, which only made him want to explore those places such as: the Sky Spire, the Lunar Sea Spire, the Communication Hub and then the Kindergarten. Where he sees Amethyst and then tries to find the "Sand Castle" located in the Desert, which constantly rebuilds itself and is never in the same place twice.

He explained that he wandered the desert for ten days and is surrounded by seven lions and Rose Quartz. Rose gives Buddy the idea to become an author, which he does, and writes many books. He writes so many books that he filled the library with them and was how the Buddwick Public Library existed. Which was how he left a mark on Beach City.

A few days later Steven and Connie practice fighting with Garnet while being Stevonnie. But it seemed like Steven and Connie weren't doing very well mentally because they kept unfusing. Connie explained that she accidentally beat a kid up at school on accident. Steven, with a very bad and toxic mentality just tells Connie that it's better not to dwell on those things. Garnet takes them away and they leave for a few hours and Connie seemed better once she apologized to the kid, Jeff but Steven wasn't doing well. Steven and Connie fall and apparently Connie helped Steven out and they refuse into Stevonnie.

A few other things happen like Steven turing into 'Future Boy Zoltron' because he broke the fortune-telling machine that Mr. Smiley owned. He meets Mr. Quentin Frowney and help him and Mr. Smiley rekindle their old comedic duo. Steven, Amethyst, Pearl and I go out to a rock concert and Pearl talks to a Mystery Girl with long pink hair. Steven plays with Onion's gang, Steven creates Pumpkin, the living pumpkin, for Peridot and Lapis, they met Andy DeMayo a cousin of Greg's (once removed) and the original owner of the barn and the Gems and Greg explained Steven's first winter.

I opened my eyes and saw that I was in the middle of a lush grassy field, with a group of beautiful pink flowers. I blinked and the scenery changed, I was in a dark room with no windows. "Why can't I go out?" I asked, the tone of my voice was low as it was before.

"White's rules." A voice said.

"But what about why I think? What about how I feel? Why can't I change the rules?" I asked the voice.

"You already know why." The voice said.

"I was made in Area 1 too you know!" I yelled.

"I try to talk to her again." The voice said and I felt tears run down my eyes.

"That's what you always say." I said and a voice yelled.

"I have to go!" The voice said and got up but paused. "Maybe you'll be able to go down to Earth?"

"Yeah right, Pink doesn't even care that I exist." I said.

"She did before." The voice said. Another voice yelled again.

"Don't ask her again." I told the voice. "You'll get shattered this time, just like everyone else. You'll probably be the last one I get."

"Maybe." The voice said and left.

"They always think I'm weak." I muttered and blinked again. There was a chill that went down my spine and blinked.

"This is it. But... it's different? I-In my dream, it was all broken down, and pink! It's in perfect condition." Steven's voice said. "Suha?! How did you get here?!" Steven yelled.

"Oh, Pink. I'm sorry... I'm so sorry…" A familiar voice said and I pushed myself off the ground. Steven had tears running down his eyes and was carrying a familiar book. Greg was wearing a red shirt that said 'Red!' on it and gray sweatpants.

"I don't know…" I whispered as they pulled back the bushes and I felt a wave of familiarly hit me as I looked up. "Blue Diamond…"

"How do you…" Steven said with big tears coming out his eyes. Blue Diamond was massive in size, and her Pearl was very tiny in comparison. She had somewhat hunch posture, combined with her, long sweeping cloak, that gave her a relatively smaller and more despondent silhouette than if she were standing straight. Her complexion was azure, and she had long straight, alice blue hair that curled inward at the end. I didn't have to see her face to know that she looked exactly the same. Her form hadn't changed. She had two noticeable and symmetrical locks of her hair curled and pointed inward toward her face just below her cheekbones.

A unique feature of her hair were two lengths of that lead from each side of her head and physically connected on her chest, just below her gem, giving it a shawl-like appearance. She had long, ovoid face, a full upper lip, and a straight nose. She had large, sad, downward-slanted eyes with bold mascara on the lower lashes, which gave the appearance of a weeping women. Her irises were light blue with black diamond shaped pupils and se had thin arched eyebrows. Her gemstone was located on her chest above her sternum, and she wore a long navy blue cloak that touched the ground. Underneath the upper part of her cloak, she wore a navy blue hood.

Her Pearl, who also hadn't changed had the same height and physical frame that was identical to the other two Pearls. She was altogether very lean, with long legs and arms, and had a tall oval-shaped head with a prominent and pointed nose. She had sky blue skin and messy, chin length periwinkle hair, The upper portion of her face was covered by her bangs, similar to Blue Diamond. Her outfit was a periwinkle bodysuit with an open diamond shaped keyhole necklace, a sheer, frost blue, knee length skirt and pale blue flats. Her gemstone, a power blue cabochon pearl was located on her chest. Blue Pearl knelled on the ground.

"I should've done more. Yellow says it'll all be over soon. I wonder what you would think. This is your planet, after all. I still think it is." Blue Diamond said to the pink Palaquin.

"Steven, Suha, do you know her?" Greg asked and I could feel the tears coming from myeyes, the emotions feeling familiar. Steven collapsed down and I grabbed him so he wouldn't fall hard on the ground.

"Whoa, buddy!" Greg said.

"My dreams... I was seeing through her eyes! I've been crying her tears!" Steven said.

"That is her power." I said, the words coming out without any second thought as I stared down at Steven.

"What are you doing over there?" Blue Diamond asked and we flinched as we saw Blue Pearl coming near and ducked lower.

"I thought I heard someone." Blue Peal said, her voice airy and soft.

"Don't worry, I'll handle this." Greg said.

"No, Greg!" I yelled.

"I think we're not alone." Blue Pearl said and Greg popped up form behind the bush, which startled Blue Pearl.

"Hey! Uh... nice day out, huh? Uh, I didn't see you there. What's uh, what's... up?" Greg said sweating profusely.

"Pearl?" Blue Diamond asked and her Pearl turned around and did the Gem salute.

"My Diamond, I've found a native." She bows.

"Oh yeah, I'm from here alright." Greg climbed out of the bushes. "Annyeonghaseyo, Your Highness." He said and bowed nervously.

"Bring it here." Blue Diamond said and Blue Pearl and Greg both walked over to her.

"Dad, no!" Steven whispered..

"How curious. I'm impressed by humanity's ability to survive in the wild. What a strange planet. Where else would a being as fragile as a human live, while a being as powerful as a Diamond, perish? This is where it happened, where she was... broken." Blue Diamond said.

"Were you close?" Greg asked

"Very." Blue Diamond said.

"I-I'm awfully sorry. I know how hard it is to move on when you've lost someone." Greg said and Blue Diamond turned her face and Steven gasped.

"You do?" She asked, a tear dropped out of her eye, which was happened to me and Steven as well.

" lost someone very important to me, too. I miss her every single day, and I think about her all the time. But she's never coming back. That feeling can be so hard to be okay with." Greg mourned

"I'm surprised that a human being is capable of understanding how I feel. It's a shame. There's a geo-weapon incubating in your planet that will destroy everything shortly. But you don't deserve that, do you?" Blue Diamond said.

"Geo-weapon, huh?" Greg said in surprise and Blue Diamond inched towards him.

"You know, I really shouldn't be here. But I'm glad I came back one last time. I can save one last piece of her legacy." Blue Diamond said.

"Oh yeah?" Greg said and Blue Diamond grabbed Greg, and kept him within the grasp of her hand.

"Dad!/ Greg!" We whisper yelled. Blue Diamond extended her arm forward, and summoned her Diamond ship. Steven and I run forward as we look at the large blue hand that was hidden in the clouds.

"That's a… big.. Arm!" Greg yelled and the legs of Blue Diamond's Palaquin retract and hover over to her.

"Whoa! Put me down, please! Whoa, whoa! Put me down, Your Highness!" The Palaquin lands in front of Blue Diamond and I run forward.

"Steven stay here!" I yelled as Blue Pearl and Blue Diamodns step into it and I grabbed onto the edge of it and watched as it flew upward.

"Dad, Dad!" Steven yelled and runsf roward after the Palanquin as it ascends into the palm of the hand ship. I take a deep breath and clutch onto the side with the fear of falling.

"STOP!" Steven yelled and he jumped from the ground right as the Palaquin gets inside the hand.

"Sorry Steven…" I whispered and felt my gem glow and my body disappear.


	26. (26) The Zoo

We got to the outside of a facility which looked like a dagger with a large blade and a small hilt that was surrounded by a ring. A Red Eye was next to the facility and watched those who traveled toward it, since it acted as a sentry. The interior of the ship was rather amazing, the ship hangar led into a large pink hangar with a set of stairs that lead to a doorway. At the top of the stairs, there were large Amethysts that guarded the door. The door took to a hexagonal-shaped hallway with different pink and white patterns along the wall and a blue tiled floor. At the end of the hall, there was another door that required an activation code to be opened.

Along one of the walls in the next room a gem could slide their fingers across like a screen, which caused a part of the floor to become transparent. Which revealed the containment area. Before they headed to the doorway to the containment area, there were four prison cells, the first ones on the left side had pink diamond symbol and on the right side had blue diamond symbol and the second one on the left side had the blue diamond symbol and the right side had the pink diamond symbol on the floor. Down the hallway showed an assortment of doorways on both the left and right sides.

The hallway led to the Human Disposal chute and a service door that allowed direct access to the containment area. However, the service door required a complex activation code to be opened. There appeared to be two more hallways to the left and right of the service door, and the one to the right lead to the various rooms.

I followed along as Blue Diamond and her Pearl as they walked inside Pink Diamond's Zoo. Greg was still being held by her hand and was even louder than Steven. Though they had yet to see me. The Amethysts, Jaspers and Carnelian at the Zoo were various colors and sizes. Though the Amethysts were mostly quiet, but it seemed like they were only following Holly Blue Agate. A gem who had a periwinkle blue complexion, pale lavender hair styled into two pointed side buns that were white, violet, and lavender, respectively, plump lips, and violet eyes with visible pupils. Her gemstone was located on the lower back of her head. She wore a navy blue top with a high collar, a blue shawl with a darker blue collar-like pattern and a blue diamond symbol, royal blue pants, and white high-heeled jackboots that go up to her thighs.

Dumped Greg into something called the Assimilation bay. Which was a treadmill that lead to the containment area. I was able to easily seek in as Blue Diamond walked away. I made myself known to Greg. "Hey Greg!" I said and he screamed and turned around.

"Suha! How - What - When - Why -" He seemed at a lost for words.

"Well it wasn't too hard for me to grab the side of the Palaquin. I wanted to watch over you and make sure nothing bad happened. I've been hear since you've been here, I've just been following around in invisible. You're important to Steven and I'd feel bad if his Dad up and disappeared in space." Four blue singer appeared out of nowhere, turned into a diamond, and took our pictures.

"What the heck?" Greg said in surprise. Sixteen other fingers appeared, eight for each of us and began to measure our mouth length, eyesight, head length, took our temperature and poked our nose. I turned around as the fingers undressed the two of us and sprayed something on us. A large machine that was going up and down in a rhythm came towards us. Greg tried to run away but I didn't bother running away as there was a bang and strange clothes appeared. The same thing happened to Greg. There was a standard attire of a blue vest, along with a white loincloth held by a brown belt around the waist, and purple earring.

The side dropped and a wave of water smashed onto us and pushed us down. "Ow…" Greg said and I helped him up.

"Wow, it's beautiful." I said as I looked around the tropical paradise, though you could see the dome that represented the sky. Some of the Zooman, who were descendants of various ethnic groups of humans from Earth, came over to us. They displayed gender neutral features, They were all very kind but very ignorant. They were aware of the walls at the borders but didn't seem to realize they were in captivity. They had very happy go lucky attitude and found joy in every aspect of their lives. They were very enthusiastic about participating in the daily routine that 'the little voice' set up for them.

The voice was very soothing and felt familiar. But I couldn't explain how. Greg and I followed the 'Daily Routine' such as eating, playing (rolling on the ground, reaching for outer space), smelling flowers, swimming and going to bed. After the first night, the Zooman's took them over to the water and braided some flower crowns. Greg's hair was braided while mine was already braided. Which caused all of them to be very interested in my hair. We were there for about a week in Zooman days but only a few hours in Earth time.

"Dad? Suha?' Steven asked.

"Huh? Steven?" Greg asked and the farther and son ran over to each other and shared a hug.

"Dad, it's you!" Steven cheered.

"Steven! My little man!" Greg said and tears fell from Steven's eyes.

"Dad! When Blue Diamond took you, I got so scared. And then the Gems said you might be in some horrible human zoo all chained up to a wall... doing tricks for peanuts... " Steven sobbed.

"Hey, hey, it's okay, schtu-ball. Your old man's perfectly fine. Wait, how'd you even get out here?" Greg asked.

"We got on a Gem ship from Earth. I'll tell you about it on the way home. I got separated from the Gems. We got to find them and bust you out of here." Steven began to search in the water.

"It's not going to work." I said walking over to them.

"What?! Well, there might be another way out if we can find it." Steven said frantically.

"Ga-reg! Sew-ha!" Wy-Six said and approached us. "Who is that with you?" Wy-Six had fairly dark skin and long poofy black hair. He and Jay-Ten were very close friends and the closest to Greg. Yu-Twelve and Ef-Three were the closest to me. Wy-Six was the unofficial leader of the Zooman.

"Is this a new friend, Ga-reg? Sew-ha?" Jay-Ten asked. She had tan skin and long blonde hair. The majority of the Zooman's had curly body types.

"Wy-Six, Jay-Ten, this is-" Greg said.

" Let me have my dad back already!" Steven said aggressively.

"Hey, don't be like that. Relax. These people have treated me so well since I got here." Greg explained.

"They're very nice Steven." I explained.

"Wha?" Steven said confused and some more Zoomman popped out from the bushes nearby. Yu-Twelve and Ef-Three were quick to get to my side. Yu-Twelve had dark skin and a large black afro. While Ef-Three had light skin and long blonde hair with a thick and muscular body. The majority of the Zoomans' had green eyes.

"Sew-Ha! I missed you!" Yu-Twelve said.

"I did too!" Ef-Three said just as happy.

"I missed you guys too." I said and smiled at them. Greg introduced Steven as his son and all the Zooman said hi. Greg showed the Zooman how to canonball. Steven joined us in the Daily Routine, he was just as weird out as we were the first time. Though after a while it became fun because their personalities were so nice.

"And now it's time to say good night. Good night, everyone. Sweet dreams." Little Voice said and all of the Zoomans began to fall asleep around the pool area.

"Geez, I sure am tired from doing a whole lot of nothing. Well, good night, schtu-ball." Greg said and he began to lie on a grass bed, but Steven and I stopped him.

"Dad! Now's our chance to get out!" Stven said and we pulled Greg around the containment area in search for the exit door.

"Man, little voice has really got me on that Zooman sleep schedule." Greg said yawning and Steven bumped into a wall.

"Is that... It's the door.' Steven said moving away the leaves.

"Great. How do we get it open?" Grege asked and Steven began to bang on the door. Wy-Six and Jay-Ten popped out from the bushes nearby. The Zoomans explain that a long time ago a gem came to through the 'wall hole' aka the 'door.' Which ended with Steven punching Greg in the face. Though it didn't work.

"It is time for the choosening. Please gather around the circle of choosening." Little Voice said.

"Ste-van, Sew-ha! Ga-reg, the choosening will start soon." Jay-Ten said happily.

"Come with us. It's- it's finally time!" Wy-Six said and they bring us over to the circle of choosening, which was a glowing circle on they round. The Zoomans were gathered around it and were giggling in joy

"Ga-reg Sew-ha, step into the circle with us." Jayp-Ten said and we step into the circle.

"Is it somebody's birthday?" Greg asked.

"Ste-van, wait here until the choosening is complete." Wy-Six said.

"The choosening is a very special event to us." Jay-Ten explained.

"We're glad to have you with us at such a wonderful time." Wy-Six said happily.  
"Glad to be here." Greg said.

"I have a bad feeling…" I whispered to Greg and he sent me a nervous smile.

"Let the choosening begin." The Little Voice said and we close our eyes.

"U-12, please step into the center of the circle. F-3, please step into the center of the circle." They step into the center, held hands and kiss. "You have been chosened for each other."

"Wait a second. Is this some kind of matchmaking thing?!" Greg yelled and groaned. "There's always a catch to these utopias." Greg sighed. Greg was called next with Jay-Ten. "Hold on! This isn't how it works on Earth!" They stared at him. "I... don't want to be told who to be choosened with."

"Ga-reg, this makes no sense. Why wouldn't you want to be choosened?" Wy-Six said.

"Look, back on Earth, there was no voice to tell you who to be with. It was your own decision." Greg explained.  
S"My mom and dad didn't get together because someone told them to. They spent time getting to know one another and fell in love. They choosened each other 'cause that's what they choosen." He said happily

"Hmm, I see. If that's how it's done on Earth, then... " He grabs Greg's hand. I choose Ga-reg." Wy-Six said.

"And I also choose Ga-reg." Jay-Ten said and grabbed his hand. Sew-Ha felt two hands grab hers, it was Yu-Twelve and Ef-Three.

"I choose Sew-ha!" They said happily and I blushed. The majority went to Greg luckily, since he was much more talkative then I was.

"Wait! I get a say in this, too. You're all very nice, and I'm flattered, and yes, you get to choose whoever you want, but... I also get to say I choose, umm... none of you." Greg said all of the Zooman stared at him in shock and began to break down crying hysterically.

"Don't cry." I said to the two Zooman closest to her. They pulled me down and hugged me crying, like little children. "It's okay. It's okay."

"Sew-ha is better than Ga-reg!" Yu-Twelve said, most of the Zooman chased after Greg and Steven.

"No, I'm not." I said and some of the Zooman looked over at her while some of the Amethyst tried to calm her down. "It's okay to feel hurt, because after you're done being hurt, you can feel better!"

"Do you choosened us?" Ef-three asked.

"Well… not yet… But if you guys come down to Earth, we can hang out! Even if I don't choosen you we can still be friends, just like you were before."

"Friends." Ef-three said.

"Like before?" Yu-twelve asked.

"So before choosening?" Ef-twelve asked and I nodded.

"Yep! That was nice too wasn't it?" I ask and they smile.

"It was!" Yu-twelve said and he grabbed me and lifted me up to his shoulders. "Sew-ha you choosen all of us as friends?"

"Yes." I said.


	27. (27) That Will be All

I was able to get out of the Zoo once one of the Amethyst came back for her. "Sorry, but you gotta one." One of the Amethyst said. "Run!" I did exactly that.

"What are you all doing in here?! Get to your stations! Even you hideous off-color Betas! Get out of your cubbies and into your places! It's the least you can do for the Diamond that kept you worthless sorry Gems in service! That's right. Blue is back already! Now go pretend your filthy vein of Quartz is capable of gratitude! Go, go, go!" Holy Blue's voice said through the door and I noticed that Pearl, Sapphire and Ruby were standing and waiting. The Quartz guards ran out of the room with Steven and Greg behind them. I immediately took my place by them.

"Run! Just run! I'll find you! Go!" Amethyst yelled and we followed Amethyst and ran off, leaving them behind with the guards. We entered a room and looked around.

"So that's where they put all the Rose Quartz." I said without thinking.

"Wait what?" Steven asked. There was a dimly lit pink room that was filled with bubbled Rose Quartz gemstones that floated close to the ceiling. There were many pedestals, two stairways, a large pillow, and two exists: the large one for the Diamonds down the stairs and the small one up the stairs. "Who bubbled all these Gems?"

They peeked from behind a pillar, at the thousands of bubbled Quartz that floated all around the room. "Wow! It's kind of like a birthday party in here." Greg said and I felt tears run down my face and Steven and I gasp in shock.

"Blue Diamond's here!" I yelled.

"We gotta hide!" Steven yelled and they hid behind a pillar when Blue Diamond entered the room. I felt my entire body tense up and tears that weren't from Blue Diamond were making me cry.

"Pearl, close the door." Blue says and sighs. She knelt down in the room and removed her hood and began to tear up. The door opened again and Yellow Dimaond enters.

"Please tell me you're joking. You only just left, and you're already back?" Yellow said.

"Yellow! W-What are you doing here?" Blue asked as she wiped away her tears.

"I'm here to bring you back to reality, Blue." Yellow said.

"I'm fine. Just leave me alone." Blue said.

"It's been thousands of years, Blue, and you still can't bring yourself to destroy these Gems? She was shattered by a Rose Quartz! The entire cut of Gem deserves the same fate!" Yellow said.

"But they were hers." Blue said.

"They should be wiped out of existence, not kept safe in bubbles!" Yellow said and I turn invibsle as Steven and Greg run toward the door they entered from and tried to open it. But it dind't work.

"Yellow, she made them. This is all we have left of her. These Gems, this place, and the Earth." Blue explained and Steven and Greg run back toward the pillar to hide behind it.

"I thought we agreed we need to put that planet and this whole debacle behind us." Yellow said.

"Why can't you just let me grieve?" Blue asked angrily.

"You can't keep coming here forever!" Yellow said with even more rage.

"Why not?" Blue asked.

Yellow Diamond sighed. "Pearl, do something. Sing for her. Make her feel better."

"Yes, my Diamond. Ahem." Yellow Pearl said and turned to Blue Pearl. "Ahem!"

"Uh... Oh." Blue Pearl said. They began to harmonize.

Aah-haa-haa, aah-haa-haa

Aah-haa-haa-haa-haa-haa-haa

Aah-haa-haa, aah-haa-haa

Aah-haa-haa-haa-haa-haa-haa haa haaaaa

Why would you want to be here?

What do you ever see here?

That doesn't make you feel worse than you do?

And tell me, what's the use of feeling, Blue?

Why would you want to employ her

Subjects that destroyed her?

Why keep up her silly

Zoo? Oh, tell me

What's the use of feeling, Blue?

An army has a use

They can go and fight a war

A Sapphire has a use

She can tell you what it's for

An Agate terrifies

A Lapis terraforms

Where's their diamond

When they need her, Blue?

You've got to be a leader, Blue

Yes, of course, we still love her

And we're always thinking of her

But now there's nothing we can

Do, so tell me (Ahh-ahh)

What's the use of feeling?

What's the use of feeling?

What's the use of feeling, Blue?

Ohh

How can you stand to be here with it all? (here with it all)

Drowning in all this regret?

Wouldn't you rather forget her? Ohhh

Won't it be grand to get rid of it all? (rid of it all)

Let's make a plan of attack

Start looking forward and stop looking back, oh

Yes, of course, we still love her

And we're always thinking of her

Don't you know I miss her, too?

But tell me

What's the use of feeling?

What's the use of feeling?

What's the use of feeling—

Mmm-hmm-hmm, mmm-hmm-hmm

Mmm-hmm-hmm-hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm-mmmm

Blue Diamond walked over to Yellow and placed a reassuring hand to Yellow Diamond's back, to comfort her as her song concludes. The door then opens and Hollow Blue, Ruby and Sapphire enter. "And we have arrived. That will be all, Pearl." She clapped twice and Pearl walked away. "My Diamond. My gracious, wondrous, luminous, lustrous Diamond...sss?" She noticed Yellow and gasped in surprise. "Oh, my! It's truly an honor to bask in your radiance...ses?"

"Get to the point, Agate." Yellow said with a raised eyebrow.

Sbe clears her throat. "Yes, of course. My deepest apologies. You'll be pleased to know that your Sapphire has completed your special delivery."

Blue turned around and glared at Holly. "What special delivery?" She asked.

"Um, the special delivery you requested from Earth, of course." Holly explained with a strange and shocked face.

"I never asked any Sapphire to go to Earth." Blue said with a suspicious look in her eyes.

"I... Um…" Sapphire said and the floor beneath her froze. Steven whispered something as Ruby grabbed a hold of Sapphire's hand behind her, to provide her some comfort and confidence. "My... future vision foresaw you, my Diamond, desiring more... humans for the zoo, so I... acted accordingly."

Blue paused and looked down. "... It's true. The window for preserving Earth specimens is closing."

"Is that what you want? Sapphire, has the Cluster emerged yet?" Yellow asked and looked at Sapphire.

"No, it has not." Sapphire said.

"Then there's still time. That will be all." Yellow said and clapped twice. Holly bowed.

"My Diamonds." She said and they left the room as they turned back around. I turn back visible and follow Steven and Greg as we escaped before the door closed.

"Two Diamonds?! I can't believe it! Can you believe it? Oh, well, of course, you can. You probably foresaw the whole thing." Holly said in shock.

"Of course! No surprises here." Sapphire said and Holly lead them through the hallways. With Steven, Greg and I following sneakily and cautiously behind,

"I never expected to see Yellow Diamond in person. What a commanding presence. You can just feel strength and confidence radiating from her." She turned around and Amethyst quickly shapeshifted into Quartz -sized to hide us. The group smiled nervously at her and continued onward. "Don't misunderstand me, of course. I'll always be in Blue's confidence, but if I had been made for Yellow, you wouldn't see me complaining."

She led them to the ship hangar and the Amethyst guards noticed us and tried to act ignorant. "I do hope they appreciate all my hard work to preserve the Pink Diamond legacy. It would really make it worth being stationed here with these sorry excuses for Gems. Oh! It's a shame though." She monologued to herself and we try to escape past her. "This outpost is so remote, I was beginning to think we'd been forgotten. But we haven't! Two Diamonds, one day! What an honor. I don't think anything could spoil this for me."

Holly noticed us almost in the spaceship. "Why are these two outside the containment area?!" She yelled and looked over at me confused. "What in the word is she supposed to be?! Another useless Gem I have to take care of?!" She yelled. Sapphire moved to talk but I move in front of her. Holly summoned her blue, electric whip. "Well, if you want something done right, you just do it yourself. You three are coming with me!"

She aimed her whip at me and I grabbed it. My gem glowed black and the whip immediately turned grey. Holly dropped it in surprise and shock. I move my hand near her hand and let her hand turn grey and release it. "Sorry, Holly Blue, but I'm in a bad mood today." I muttered as she backed away from me. Which made it easy for the rest of the gems to beat her.  
"I'll report you to the Diamonds! All of you! You'll all be shattered!" Holly said once my back was to her.

"You're really gonna tell the Diamonds that you allowed a band of traitorous rebels to infiltrate a highly-secure facility and escape from right under your careful watch?" Pearl said and inhaled sharply. " Doesn't sound like a wise thing to do, Holly Blue~ So do yourself a favor and keep your mouth shut. That will be all." Pearl bowed and Steven clapped twice. Holly groaned in misery while the Quartz guards continue to laugh at her and waved goodbye to us. We take off and I take a seat on the ground.

"Suha, are you alright?" Steven asked and I touch my head in pain and lay down on the ground.

"I'm not sure." I said and close my eyes as the ship takes off towards Earth. "They always did care about her." I smile. "I hope they enjoy my gift." They'll recognize my powers, if they're half the Diamonds I remember.

Turnaround Hans Zimmer & Camille

[Intro]  
One, two, three, four  
Pa-da-da-dip-du-du-dap  
Pa-da-da-di-da  
Pa-da-da-dip-du-du-dap  
Pa-da-da-di-da  
Pa-da-da-dip-du-du-dap  
Pa-da-doo-di-da

[Verse 1]  
Turn around, I'm right behind you  
Turn around, I'll turn around too  
Turn around, so we can clap hands  
Turn around, it's flight or flutter  
Turn around, hot peas and butter  
Turn around, I'm fallin' in the grass  
Pa-da-dee-du-du

[Chorus 1]  
Straight (Straight), how can you be so straight? (Straight)  
Life is everything but straight (Straight)  
It's going up and down  
Far (Far)  
Happiness isn't far (Far)  
Not far from where you are (Are)  
Watching your life go by (By, by by)  
Now, why don't you sing out loud?  
The tune you keep inside?

[Hook]  
Pa-da-da-dip-du-du-dip  
Pa-da-da-du-da  
Pa-da-da-dip-du-du-dip  
Ta-da-da-du-da  
Pa-da-da-dip-du-du-dup  
Tu-rup-pa-da-da-du-di-da

[Verse 2]  
Turnaround, around the circle  
Turnaround, just like duetto  
Turnaround, and listen to the wind  
Turnaround, and put your pen down  
Turnaround, your feet off the ground  
Turnaround, and your head in the clouds

[Chorus 2]  
Shy (Shy)  
How can you be so shy? (Shy)  
Hiding below the stars (Stars)  
Under your neon light (Light)  
Hi (Hi)  
Don't say hello, say hi (Hi)  
Hi to a higher sky (Sky)  
Hi to a higher ground  
Loud, why don't you sing out loud?  
The words you keep inside?

[Bridge]  
Pa-da-da-dip-du-du-dap-du  
Ta-da-da-du-da  
Pa-da-da-dip-du-du-da-du  
Ba-da-da-du-da  
Pa-da-da-dip-du-du-da-du  
Ba-da-da-du-da  
Pa-da-da-dip-du-du-da-du  
Ba-da-da-du-da  
Pa-da-da-dip-du-du-da-du  
Ba-da-da-du-da  
Pa-da-da-dip-du-du-da-du  
Ba-da-da-di-da  
Pa-da-da-dip-du-du-da-du  
Ba-da-da-di-da  
Pa-da-da-dip-du-du-da

[Outro]  
Why don't you sing it out loud?  
Why don't you sing out loud? (Why don't you sing out loud what you sing out loud?)  
The song you keep inside?


	28. (28) Are You my Dad?

I was lucky enough to wake back up in only two weeks. Which meant that there wasn't much stuff that passed. Steven explained that Connie, Lapis and Peridot, formed the New Crystal Gems and helped protect Beach City. Though Steven made a fake version of… his mother… in Rose's aka Steven's Room. Then someone named Renaldo set out to find all the rock people living in Beach City, which were the Crystal Gems.

I woke up a little after that happened. Though it seemed like it was always changing. As Steven and Amethyst return to their pro wrestling career as Purple Puma and Tiger Millionaire. Then Navy, who I knew wasn't good, decided to come down to Earth and in the process stole the Roaming Eye. Steven found Lion, who coughed up a magical key and goes on a quest of his own. Finding a tape that had the name 'Nora' on it which was going to be the other name for Steven, if he ended up being a girl. Steven and Connie join Connie's father on a stakeout and Steven, Lars, Sadie and I get invited to a party with the Cool Kids.

The day was going rather well, though Steven hasn't recevied his package from Jaime. So he rushed back into the house and began to describe a girl while we try to daw her. Connie was also there, having spent the night before.

"And the gem was under her eye. My right, her left. And wings, and, yeah…: Steven said and we finished our illustrations. We showed them to Steven, Connie illustration was anime-esque of a bust of the teardrop Gem.

"I think I made one eye bigger than the other." Connie said. Amethyst illustration was free form and looked like a winged horse.

"I was going for a feeling." Amethyst explained. Pearl's illustration was extremely detailed and looked a lot like Lapis.

"Honestly, I can't even draw a circle." Pearl explained and chuckled sheepishly. Garnet's illustration was simple and looked…

"Okay Garnet, you just drew yourself." Steven said.

"Uh, I like me." Steven said. My illustration was more than anime-esque and was simply anime.

"I like anime." I explained.

"I think Connie and Suha's were the closest." Steven said and I smiled.

"Thanks!" Connie and I said.

"This was a waste of time." Pearl said and crumpled her illustration in her hand. "We should be preparing for a fight." She grabbed our drawings. "Whoever this is, she's from Homeworld. She's gotta be here for us."

"She's not though. She said, she's looking for her Dad." Steven explained.

"What?" We said minus Connie.

"Her Dad?" Pearl asked.

"There are all these people missing. Maybe her Dad's gone missing too." Steven explained.

"But Gems don't have dads." Amethyst and I explained in confusion.

"This doesn't make any sense." Pearl agreed.

"Steven's a Gem, and Steven has a Dad." Connie said.

"There are no other Gems like Steven." Garnet explained.

"Are you sure? Suha found you guys." Connie said and everyone stared at her in silence.

"Well I'm not like Steven." I explained, feeling a headache coming on.

"But you grew up in an orphanage, you were a baby, how is that even possible?" Connie asked and I shrugged.

"Trust me, I've been asking this question for years." I said.

"We got to get to the bottom of this. We should split up, and investigate." Garnet said suddenly and Steven gasped.

"Ruby and Sapphire!" He said happily.

"Uh, no. I meant split into teams." Garnet explained.

"Ooohh... right. Garnet with yourself and Suha, Pearl with Amethyst, and Connie with me. Let's go!" Steven called and we did exactly that.

A/N: Sorry for the short chapter guys, but the next ones are going to be long.


	29. (29) I Am My Mom

A/N: Season 4 Finale.

Garnet and I didn't spend long searching for the Gems, because she we ended up separating. I looked around all of Beach City. "Where's Steven and Connie?" I asked angrily and felt myself ran into something. "Ow!" I yelled.

"Suha!" A familiar voice yelled and I looked up and saw Amethyst.

"Amethyst! Did you find the humans and Steven?! I've been looking for them everywhere!" I yelled.

"They're up there!" Pearl yelled running forward with Garnet. I looked up and saw a ship that had a wide, curve topped cone, which was either black or mostly dark brown in color. With two cyan triangles on top, with one pointed upwards and the other downwards.

"I've been looking for you all over the place!" A tiny gem yelled. She was a small, less than half the height of Steven and had cherubic appearance and a bright cyan blue complexion. With navy blue eyes, no nose, and chin length cerulean blue hair worn in a bobbed style. Her clothes looked like a prep school uniform, with a blue vest worn over a dark blue dress with a whtie color, white wrist length gloves, white knee high socks and dark blue flat shoes. With a dark blue bow was just turned into a wand.

Her intersection of her vest and the lapels of her collar formed a Blue Diamond symbol with a teardrop shaped gemstone located beneath her left eye, and her water wings were similar to that of butterfly wings. She looked like a mixture between a pixie or fairy. I felt a my eyes narrow as she lifted me up with her wand, a light blue light in the shape of a sphere formed around me.

"Suha!" The Gems yelled. I felt a sting from my memory.

"What does an Era 2 want with me?" I asked her.

"Just so you know, I was sent on an important mission to receive you by Yellow and Blue Diamond. These humans are of no use to me, but for some reason you seem to be of interest. Though you don't seem important to me." The Gem said.

"Aquamarine let her go!" Garnet yelled.

Aquamarine gave her a raspberry and flew up into the ship dropped Suha on the ground.

"Suha!" Steven yelled. The inside of the ship had a big, cyan blue screen along with a captain's chair on a floating platform for Aquamarine to sit on. The entire ceiling had a sky view, which didn't appear on the outside of the ship.

There was a large gem that had gemstones on both sides of her head, which showed that she was a fusion. Her components were identical albeit shorter (roughly half the size), one with her gemstone on the left side of her head, and the other with her gemstone on her right. She had light yellow hair in a short, flat top-like fashion, yellow shin and a tinted orange visor that covered her eyes and the sides of her head. Her eyes appeared to be brown, though it is unclear due to the orange tint of her visor. Her outfit consisted of a maroon vest with Yellow Diamond's insignia, a mahogany top underneath, and dark brown bottoms that cover her feet. She had a large, broad, and muscular build with relatively short legs and large, powerful arms. She had a square head and chin with a strong and boxy jawline.

"Let's get back to Homeworld already." Aquamarine sighed.

"But I'm already on my home world. I haven't even delivered all the mail today." Jamie the mailman said.

"Don't worry. I can do this." Steven said and Sadie, Lars and Connie began to muffle shouts of panic and anger.

"Do you want me to help you Steven?" I asked him.

"Suha why aren't you freaking out?!" Steven yelled angrily.

"I just have a feeling… that I need to be here." I told him. "I feel like my memories are coming back, with these new powers and everything keeps changing. I feel like I need to be here. But I can help you if you want me to."

I stood up and moved toward the large fusion with my gem glowing black.

"No I can do it!" Steven yelled.

"Ohh! You might want to hurry, Steven. The threat of us perishing in this quagmire of yellow feels very real; a real encompassing kind of real. A neon death trap, which has imprisoned us so tightly, like a winter coat that's too big in the sleeves." Jamie said as Lars flailed his hand in Steven's face in anger, his eyes almost red.

"Lars, stop! I need to concentrate!" Seven yelled.

"Ughh. If I never get sent on another mission to Earth, it'll be too soon. What an ordeal. But the Diamonds needed me. That's the burden of being the best." Aquamarine said, arrogance in her voice.

"What justice is there in such a gross tangling of symbols?!" Jamie yelled dramatically.

"Will you stop?! You're ruining my moment!" Jaime yelled.

"Steven…" Jaime whimpered, as he cowered back.

"I almost got it!" Steven grunts and Jaime makes a noise of confusion as the large gem starts to sweat and expand like a balloon. Eventually she popped, and separated back into two. Steven had successfully summoned his bubble shield and they scream as they are freed.

"What?! Topaz! Get this mess cleaned up. And, Topaz, help her out. I'm setting a course." Aquamarine yelled angrily at the two gems.

"The door! Huh?" One Topaz approached Steven and summoned her mace from her gem and swung it at Steven and I push my hand out and watch as the mace turns gray and falls to the floor. Topaz cowered away from her.

"Lars! Lars?!" Sadie yelled as Aquamarine came flew forward towards me and aimed her wand at me, it flicked in and out from gray to blue,

"What are you?!" Aquamarine yelled. "I was told you were dangerous! But no one said you could do this!"

"Sorry Aquamarine, my powers are just as confusing for you as they are for me." I said and grabbed her water wing only for her to slam her gravity wand right towards me making me slam into the wall.

"Take that you off-color!" Aquamarine yelled. I felt heat raise to my face and the shadows glow darker, that insult...

"I'm not off-colored!" I yelled at her and a large black shine shun over the spaceship and the colors from the gems faded and the cowered in their place. Steven's colors faded in and out and he collapsed on the ground. I felt the pain in my head heighten but I held my shaking hands in place. The room seemed to fade in and out and I closed my eyes for a second and reopened them. I was in a dark room, without a centimeter of light.

'Carbonado.' A familiar voice said. 'You're really leaving?'

'Of course I am.' I said. 'They've gone too far this time.'

'You mean the rumors of that bright light that the Diamonds shun on Earth?' She said.

'Of course.' I said, my voice seemed empty. I clutched my head in pain and closed my eyes. 'The voices won't go away.'

'That's only because you absorb their light.' She said.

'I know, it makes me weak. An 'off-color'.' I said angrily. 'Yet White is allowed to reflect all of her light, even though she has a pink, Blue absorbs warm light, Yellow only absorbs Blue. Neither of them bother with me.'

'I don't think it's weakness.' She says and takes a seat beside me.

'You wouldn't.' I said with a faint smile on my face.

'You won't find her.' She said and my smile disappeared.

'Yes I will.' I told her. 'She gave me a chance one before, now I'm taking it.'

'You're going to Earth. You're going to forget and run away from your problems here.' She said.

'I'm not needed anywhere else.' I said.

'You're needed here, with me… If you leave, they'll be even worse… especially since Pink is gone.' She said.

'She's not gone.' I said.

'You can't keep denying the truth!' She yelled at me and I ignored her and stood up and my gem shun in the darkness. 'If you leave now! I'll be shattered!'

'You were never mine to begin with.' I told her and placed a hand on her head. 'You never even called me by my real name.'

'You'll make me forget?' She asked me, her light shun the opposite of mine.

'That way they won't hurt you.' I told her.

'Goodbye… my Diamond.' She said to me and I laughed.

'I'm not yours.' Her white gem flashed black and then white, her original color. Then finally, to grey and there was a loud poof. 'Goodbye… White Pearl.' I felt a tear run down my face, and placed the grey gem on the ground. 'Forgive me.'

I opened my eyes and saw Onion run out of the door and plunged into the ocean.

"Uhh, go! Go." Steven yelled.

"Steven, I-I seem to be paralyzed with fear. Whoa!" Jaime yelled as Steven lifted him up and threw him overboard with Sadie and Connie jumping after him. Aquamarine fired her tractor beam, and halted Jamie, Sadie, Connie, Onion, and Alexandrite in their tracks.

"Nice try. But it's hopeless, "my dad". I can't go back to Homeworld without getting what the Diamonds want." Aquamarine said angrily and Steven glanced down at his friends in peril.

"I'm… not my dad." Steven said.

"What?!" Aquamarine yelled.

"I'm not my dad!" Steven repeated with more certainty in his voice.

"How much longer is this mission going to take?" Aquamarine groaned.

"Well, I can end it for you, right now." Steven said and looked at her.

"Oh, really?" Aquamarine said intrigued.

"I'm someone the Diamonds will want more than any of these humans: the leader of the Crystal Gem rebellion; the Gem that shattered Pink Diamond. I'm not my dad. I'm my mom." Steven said and lifted up his shirt. "I'm Rose Quartz!"  
"No way." Aquamarine gasped and retracted her tractor beam, which caused Alexandrite to unfuse and everyone to drop into the ocean.

"Steven?" Connie said nervously.

"No, don't! Steven!" Pearl yelled.

"What are you doing?!" Amethyst yelled.

"I get it now. I'm the only one who can stop what she started. I can stop all of it!" Steven yelled.

"You're wrong! Steven, get down here!" Garnet yelled back.

"She wouldn't have wanted this. But I do." Steven said.

"I'm gonna kick your butt if you don't come down here right now!" Amethyst said, her voice breaking. Steven turned and walked back into the ship.

"Steven…." Pearl said with tears trailing down her face as she covered her mouth.

"No! Don't you dare!" Connie yelled.

"I love you." Steven said.

"No! Stooop!" Connie yelled and the door of the ship closed and blasted off into the evening sky, I could hear Connie scream out Steven's name as we locked eyes.

"I think I understand… It's meant to be this way… I need answers." Steven said and I looked down at him gem and touched my own.

"And what will you do…. when you get them." I asked him. "Even if they're difficult… frustrating… heartbreaking and hard to understand."

"Change the future." Steven said.

"I hope you're ready." I told him and he frowned.

"By the way Suha, you changed again." Steven said and I nodded.

"Yeah I know." I said. "Just found something new about myself, that's all." My hair and eye color, changed back to black, their original color. "But I don't want to show my other form, that might be too much."

"Your other form?" Steven asked and I looked away.

"All my memories haven't returned yet. But when they do, I'll explain everything." I told him and looked down at the ground.

Carbonado, one of my names, though I guess the real one… The one I was never allowed to call myself, because I wasn't perfect… because I was an off-color, because I was seen as weak.

Black Diamond.

A/N: All done with Season 4, I'm sure some people called it. Yes you were right. Funny the title works for Steven and Suha.


	30. (30) The Trial

I didn't bother running or trying to escape. My entire goal was to stay near to Steven so that was exactly what I did. I sat with Steven alone in a room. "I know my mom did something bad. Whatever Homeworld has in store for me… I'm ready!" Silence. "I said, I'm ready! It's me, Rose Quartz! Hello? Anybody? Lars? You there? Is this the punishment? Come on! I know it's going to be worse than this! So whatever you're going to do... Would you just do it already?"

He slumped against a wall in the room in misery. "Are you done talking to yourself now?" I asked him.

"Yeah. I am." Steven sighed and looked over at me. "Why are you being so calm about this? Shouldn't you be freaking out? We're going to go see the Diamonds."

"I'd rather watch what happens." I told him. "They'll be so upset when they see me."

"What do you mean-" Steven asked but the door opened and a blue gem walked inside. She was human sized, with a slim figure, indigo blue skin, eyelids of a darker blue, a long slim nose, and periwinkle blue, crescent pointed hair that looked like a surgical hood. Her uniform consisted of a pair of baby-blue pants, flats of the same blue color, a boxy, long sleeved, baby blue jacket with padded shoulders and darker blue trims along the bottom, and a pale blue cravat. She wore a monocle over her right eye, which displayed multiple info screens. Her gemstone was located on her chest, where the knot of her tie would be. She had several panels floating around her and was very nervous.

"This is ridiculous! 4,000 years of loyal service to the court, and this is what I get? Oh, I'm the unluckiest Zircon in the galaxy! This is ridiculous! 4,000 years of loyal service to the court, and this is what I get? Oh, I'm the unluckiest Zircon in the galaxy!" Zircon said and Steven tried to run out of the door that Zircon entered from but it closed before he could reach it. He turned toward Zircon who gasped in surprise as she noticed him.

"Wait, are you… Rose Quartz?" Zircon asked.

"Yeah…" Steven said.

"... Really?" She asked and looked over at me. "Then who are you? What are you? I thought all the human was in another section."

"I'm not human." I told her. "I just want to see how the trial goes."

"Trial?" Steven asked.

"You must be from Homeworld then, maybe an old Crystal Gem." Zircon said and looked over at Steven. "Ugh! We only have this brief moment to prepare your case."

"Case? What are you guys talking about?" Steven asked.

"Ugh! Who am I kidding? This is pointless! We've all heard the rumors about the demise of Pink Diamond, but I can't believe these files-" She scrolled through the floating panels. "Shattered by one of her own soldiers- Ugh! In front of her entire entourage!?" She turned to Steven. "And look at you now! That ridiculous disguise is only going to make you look more guilty!" She curled up in fear.

"That's fine, because I am!" Steven yelled.

"Whoa! Wha- Don't say that! Especially when you're out there!" Zircon yelled.

"Out where?! What's going to happen!?" Steven asked.

"What did you think was going to happen, Rose Quartz!? As soon as that door opens, you're going on trial!" She yelled and at that moment the door opened and Zircon froze in shock. Steven glanced at the door.

"Umm…" Stevens aid.

"Listen. Strange Gem. Do you mind leaving? It's only reserved for the Diamonds, their Pearls and the Defense and Prosecutor Zircon." Defense Zircon asked quickly and at that moment I turned invisible. "Wha- How-" She shook her head. "Nevermind! We don't have enough time!"

Steven and Zircon walked down to the Trial Room. The Trial Building appeared as a white flower like mechanism in the city attached to an anvil and a circular black structure on top. It bore the resemblance to the shape of a Roaming Eye ship. There was an empty pink room for the defendant to stay in until their trial, which connected to a trial room, where court cases took place. Steven sat in the middle of a triangle shaped platform, along with the nervous Blue Zircon. Three pathways light up in blue, white, and yellow and another Zircon warped into the room.

The Zircon shared a similar appearance and attire to the Blue Zircon. The blue tint of the courtroom made her appear green, but I could see that she was actually a yellow Gem. her skin was a dull yellow color, she had olive yellow eyelids with black eyes. Her nose was long and slim with chartreuse hair that had two spikes, similar to Yellow's hair. She wore pale green yellow pants and shoes with an oversized, light colored vest with darker trimmings and a tinted necktie that was diamond shaped. She wore a monocle, except hers was yellow and on her left eye. Her gemstone was square shaped and located on her jugular cavity, where her knot for her tie would be.

"Defending a rebel? Isn't that... treason?" Yellow Zircon chuckled. *chuckles*

"I was assigned to this!" Blue Zircon said nervously. Two lights, blue and yellow, emerged in the room and Blue and Yellow Pearl warped in.

"All rise for the luminous Yellow Diamond!" She posed Yellow's famous pose.

"And the lustrous Blue Diamond." Blue Pearl bowed. Another light beams in behind the Pearls and Yellow and Blue warped in. Blue rested on Yellow's shoulders and gazed down at Steven. Both of the Zircons made the Gem salute. I held my breath, filling a mixture of awe, anger and pain hit me but I shook my head. I had to focus on the trial.

"Where is... the accused?" Blue asked as she looked around.

"Is that Rose Quartz? Look at this hideous form she's taken. Forget the trial. We should shatter her just for looking like that!" Yellow said annoyed as she looked down at Steven.

"No. I want to hear her make her case. I want to know what she thinks we're going to do with her. Because I want to do something worse." Blue said and Steven gulped nervously.

"Fine." Yellow said and a yellow and blue throne appeared behind them and they sat on their respective thrones.

"Let's just get on with it, shall we?" Yellow said and the Pearls began to record the case on their respective screens.

"My Diamond. My brilliant, opulent, radiant, glimmering-" Yellow Zircon said.

""My Diamond" will suffice, or we'll never get through this." Yellow said annoyed.

"Of course, My Diamond." She said nervously and cleared her throat. "Rose Quartz committed a crime, so unprecedented that one can't help but wonder "why"? Exhibit A." Yellow Zircon snapped her fingers and Lars wrapped into the room.

"Lars!" Steven gasped.

"Steven, what's going on here?! Where are we?" Lars said quickly and Yellow Zircon snapped and an air bubble went over his head and muffled his voice. But I could hear him ask: "Who are those huge giant ladies!?" Which was enough to make me smile, although no one could see it.

"As we can see from this specimen, humans are loud, absolutely hideous creatures that serve no purpose whatsoever. What sort of Gem would turn on her own kind for this? I'll tell you what kind." Yellow Zircon said. "A that kind."

"Just let him go! He's got nothing to do with this!" Steven pleaded to the Diamonds.

"There it is! The passion, the fury, that caused the diabolical Rose Quartz to... shatter her own Diamond!" Yellow Zircon said and there was silence. "But I know what you're thinking." She knelt down next to Steven. ""This thing doesn't look like a Rose Quartz". And for that, I'd like to call an eyewitness!"

The platform rose in the room and Eyeball stood on top, she growled angrily at Steven and looked around, probably for me. "Oh, Eyeball!" Steven said happily.

"Do not address me, war criminal!" Eyeball snarled.

"I'm just glad you're okay." Steven said mutely.

"I heard it straight from her. She said-" With a mocking tone of voice. " "I'm the mighty Rose Quartz! I've got her shield and everything!" And then she threw me... into space! She was in the form of some disgusting fusion with some random black gem!" Both of the Diamonds froze.

"We tried to help you! I healed your gem!" Steven said quickly.

"And who else has the ability to heal Gems, other than the villainous Rose Quartz?!" Eyeball said with a narrowed eye.

"And there you have it. Rose Quartz did it and that's Rose Quartz. I rest my case." Yellow Zircon said.

"Oh, she's good." Blue Zircon said to herself. Yellow Pearl closed her records and Blue Pearl drew a big cross over an illustration of Steven's face. Eyes went to the Diamonds and they blinked.

"Well, I'm convinced. Time to execute!" Yellow said quickly.

"Not yet. The defense still has to speak." Blue said.

"Right!" Blue Zircon said nervously. "Well uh, before I start my very... uh, thought-out defense, I'd like to remind the court that Rose Quartz did turn herself in."

"The court remembers, and the court does not care." Yellow said sarcastically. .

"Uh, of course!" She picked up the panel. "Uh, in-innocent! Uh, the word innocent can mean, oh- many different things." Blue Zircon said.

"I did it!" Steven said and stood up.

"Wha-what, what! Stop!" Blue Zircon said.

"No! I want to hear what she has to say." Blue said and raised her hand, the floor beneath Steven rose up toward her height.

"Get us out of here, Steven!" Lars yelled with a muffled voice.

Steven shielded his eyes from the light. "Uh…" .

"State your name for the record, please!" Yellow Pearl said.

"I, um… I'm Rose Quartz." He showed his gem. "And… I'm guilty." Yellow looked at him in complete shock while Blue just glared at him.

"Wait! No, don't say that!" Blue Zircon said fearfully.

"Everything you guys said I did, I did. And I did it by myself. And I'm sorry. I'll accept any punishment you want to give me." He pointed to Lars. "Just let him go! And leave the Earth alone."

"Ha! Sounds like a solid confession to me!" Yellow said happily.

"...How?" Blue inched toward Steven. "How did you do it?"

"Huh?" Steven said confused and I hit my head. I completely forgot to tell him how it happened. Though I had only heard the rumor that spread across the galaxies.

"How did you shatter Pink Diamond?" Blue asked menacingly.

"Um... Well... I did it on Earth, in front of Pink Diamond's palanquin. I was probably like, "Stop!" and she was all like, "No!", so we fought, I think." Steven said and Blue Zircon banged her head against the elevated platform while Yellow Zircon kept smiling smugly. "And she probably did some cool moves. I probably did some cool moves too, some jump kicks and stuff." Yellow Pearl looked at Steven in confusion, while Blue Pearl drew an illustration of Steven jump kicking. "But I was most likely deeply conflicted about deciding to shatter her. Definitely crying. I probably had to use the Breaking Point to do it."

"IT WAS A SWORD!" Blue screamed and covered her eyes as she began to cry. The room was enveloped in a blue aura which caused all of them to cry, accept Lars. "You... shattered her... with a sword.." She slumped back on her throne and sobbed, and Yellow walked up to comfort her.

"That's quite enough testimony from you! We shall take a short recess." Yellow said and Steven and Blue Zircon walked away back to the Waiting Room. I followed after them.

"You really don't know how it happened?" I asked him.

"No…" Steven said. "They never told me anything! You know that! I just guessed!"

" Don't tumble my rocks! Both our gems are on the line! Did you do this or not?!" Blue Zircon yelled.

"It was me, alright!" Steven yelled. "Rose Quartz did it, and I've got her gem, so… I'm the one who's got to pay for this!"

"You don't know how it happened…" Blue Zircon said and Steven hook his head.

"I get it." Blue Zircon said after a moment of deep thinking. She summoned a screen panel. "There's a reason they want you to explain how you did it."

"Huh?" Steven said confused.

"Because it doesn't make sense." I said.

"Exactly!" Blue Zircon said and I looked over at Steven. Feeling a headache…

'It doesn't make any sense!' I yelled angrily, in the same black room. Tears fell down my face.

'But Pink Diamond isn't here anymore. They found her gem shattered…' White Pearl said.

'Even if I told you my theory, the theory I've had ever since this 'Rose Quartz' rebelled against the other Diamonds.. You wouldn't believe me…' I told her. 'Even Pink's Pearl wasn't there! That doesn't make any sense, she followed Pink around like a Spinel!'

'Well… No one knows what Pink's Pearl looks like anyway…' White Pearl said. 'She was always with Pink…'

I blinked and noticed that Steven and Zircon had left. I quickly turned invisible and went to the Court Room. "Rose Quartz is flawed, I grant you. A shallow strata-Gem who turned against her own kind out of a misguided attachment to a planet and creatures like these." Blue Zircon said as she wrapped Lars in.

"What?! Huh?!" Lars yelled, still muffled with the bubble.

"It's indisputable, that as the Diamond overseeing Earth, Pink was Rose Quartz's enemy. Rose had everything to gain by shattering her. But even though she may have wanted to shatter Pink Diamond, could she? Blue Diamond, for the purpose of this argument, may I present your palanquin?" Blue Zircon said.

"Is this necessary?" Yellow asked annoyed.

"Isn't it? Please, proceed." She waved her hand and her palanquin appeared.

"Now, as the records show, Pink Diamond was shattered just outside a palanquin much like this." She stepped into the palanquin. "Witnesses say Pink had just stepped out and had only taken a few steps forward when Rose attacked her from the front!" Blue gasped and turned around in sorrow.

"But the question no one seems to be asking is, "how"?" Blue Zircon said.  
"I've been asking that question." Blue said annoyed.

"A-A-A-And right you are to ask, my Diamond! B-Because at that time that Pink was shattered, Rose Quartz had been a recognized threat for several hundred years. There were no Rose Quartz soldiers in her entourage and none in her guard. So how did a Rose Quartz, with no business being anywhere near Pink Diamond, get so close in the first place? Where were Pink Diamond's attendants? Her Agates, Her Sapphires? And where was her Pearl?" Yellow and Blue Pearl paused and looked at each other in shock.

Yellow slammed he fist on her throne. "They were with her, of course! They saw the whole thing!" She yelled.

"But none of them saw Rose Quartz approach? Wouldn't her Sapphires have seen Rose Quartz coming? Wouldn't her Agates have tried to fight her off?" Blue Zircon asked.

"That is strange!" Steven said in surprise, Blue in shock looked at an angered Yellow Diamond.

"She must have slipped past them!" Yellow yelled.

"Even if she did, wouldn't her Pearl have cried out an alarm, "Watch out, My Diamond!" No, whoever did this was already close to Pink Diamond. Someone her guards would allow to get near her, someone she would listen to when asked to stop her palanquin and step outside, and someone with the authority to cover it up afterwards! Someone with supreme authority... Someone... like one of you!" Blue Zircon pointed at both of the Diamonds, and Blue gasped loudly in disbelief. Yellow, very unamused, got up from her throne. "Uh, disregard that last statement! I might have gotten carried away!"

Yellow came forward to crush Blue Zircon with her finger, but I placed myself in front of her, Yellow's fingertip turned grey and I showed myself. I looked up at the Diamonds. Both of them with a priceless, shocked expression on their face. "Youw ere never good at keeping your temper, were you Yellow?" I asked her.

"You… What are you doing here?!" She yelled at me and Blue looked like she was about to cry.

"You disappeared right after Pink… We thought that you were shattered…" Blue said,

"But not worried enough to go out and look for me." I said to her and looked over at Steven and motioned him to move away as I had the attention of the Diamonds.

"After all these years, you finally show yourself." Yellow said angrily. "You're even protecting that Zircon, was it because she finally showed your true nature." It wasn't a question.

"You think I shattered Pink?" I asked her and placed my hands on my chest. "Me? A defective, off colored Gem? Isn't that amusing?"

"You were always jealous." Yellow spat. "Of all of us." I noticed Steven grab Lars.

"I was created at the same time as White, but I'm not even considered as 'Perfect' and 'Pure' as she is." I said angrily at her. "Things were fine between us before the two of you showed up. She wanted to terraform the planets and create more of us, I enjoyed the time we had to ourselves."

"It gives you a motive." Blue said. "Ever since Era One you asked for a Pearl, a Court, an planet but were never given one. But Pink, the youngest of us were able to have one thousands of years before you."

"That's true.' I said. "White always liked having me as her own personal 'Star'. Even once you were created, we very rarely saw each other. I could count of my fingers on the amount of times I've seen you. Of course you'd think of me as an enemy."

Stven and Lars ran into the palaquin. The palanqin began to move and I disappeared. I ran into the palanquin as it burst out of the trial building. It was the first time I had seen Homeworld in over five millennia, the first time I was ever freely let out of Homeworld by my own will…

The planet had layers of dense, artificial infrastructure. The architecture was geometrical, many of the buildings took the forms of crystalline structures or inverted pyramids. The sides of many buildings were dotted with dark, neatly-arranged holes. Translucent tubes connected many of the buildings, entered through these holes. Flashes of colored light could be seen traveling along the tubes, although their purpose was unknown. Deep, dark pits lead down into the planet's abandoned surface.

The actual surface of Homeworld was dead, wasted, and abandoned, presumably from the Kindergartens draining the planet's natural nutrients. Dotted around the planet's surface were abandoned Gem structures. Some of the abandoned structures include ancient obelisks resembled the newer ones placed on the upper levels. The old broken statues left behind appeared to be fusions, implying that when the original surface began to die Homeworld Gems began to expand upwards, leaving old buildings and some aspects of their culture behind.

"Where is this?" Lars asked.

"Homeworld…" Steven and I said. Yellow blasted a diamond shaped hole in the wall of the trail and gazed at the palanquin as it began to fall.

'You think you can get away, Rose? You stood your ground on that little speck called Earth... But you're on our world now." She said and glazed her eyes at me. "We will meet again soon." We braced ourselves for impact, as the palanquin fell into a gaping hole; into the abyss of Homeworld.


	31. (31) Off Colors

I follow Steven and Lars as we crash land in the dark caverns of Homeworld. At the bottom of the cavern was the abandoned surface area of Homeworld. It was partially underground (due to the above ground structures) the area received little light, and was very dark. The area was barren, covered in dirt and rock. Many tree like shapes connected the walls together closer to the ground. Pedestals protruded from the ground, and old statues of Gems and fusions could be seen scattered around. Some pedestals had text on them written in the Gem Language.

"Lars! Suha! Are you okay?" Steven asked us.

"Thanks to your bubble." Lars said and groaned. "My bones are only a little broken." and Steven chuckled.

"My bones too." He held out his hand to Lars as I got up on my own.

"I feel fine." I told him and my gem glowed against the shadows. I felt better under the abandoned section of Homeworld then I felt above. "This place hasn't changed."

"You recognize this place?" Steven asked.

"Yeah it was abandoned by the Diamonds as they expanded across the eons." I told Steven.

"I can't trust you at all! Why are were those giant ladies furious with you?!" Lars asked angrily.

"They're the Diamonds." Steven said standing up for me. "They've been after my mom for 6,000 years, and now they're after me! Suha didn't even remember everything before, not everything has come back right?" Steven asked and I nodded.

"If I had all of my memories, I would've returned back to my original form." I told Steven. "Or as your friend Lars calls us, 'giant ladies."

Steven looked at me confused and I shook my head. "Alright later. Come on, we gotta move." We got out of the broken palanquin and began to run into the dark and desolate underground of Homeworld.

"How are we supposed to get off this planet? Do you even know where you're going?" Lars asked.

"No, this is my first time here too." Steven said.

"Just follow me, there's an abandoned Kindergarten nearby." I told them. "If my theories connect, I'm sure those 'gems' are still hiding here."

"What gems?" Steven asked.

"The-" I was about to explain but there was a strange noise. Steven cupped his ears to listen for the noise again, when Lars' stomach started to grumble.

"Ughhh, sorry." Lars apologized and a small, tan and cone shaped machine came from behind them. The base consisted of a hemispherical shape with a red pattern that served as the front of the robot. Unlike the other robonoids, the Shattering Robonoid didn't have any legs, but floated around to more easily navigate and scan the environment.

"Take my hand." I said and Lars blushed.

"Wait, why would I hold your hand?" He whispered and Steven grabbed mine.

"I wasn't talking to you." I said to him. "You'll be fine. They're Shattering Robonoids." It took a second for us to turn invisible. The Shattered Robonoids continued to search through the ruins. "They can't detect and purposely destroy an object that lacks a gem, which means that organic life forms, like you Lars won't be 'seen' completely."

The Robonoid onitnued to follow Lars. "Though they can detect movement. Which means it will keep following us."

"What are we gonna do?! What's gonna happen?!" Lars asked nervously.

"We're gonna run, hide and we're gonna be okay!" steven said.

"No!" Lars said and we took cover underneath a gem structure. "You just don't get it. I hate being scared all the time! I was scared of everything except baking. Actually, I was scared of that too. I never even tried baking baklava because it looked so hard! I never had the guts to stick up for anybody. Not even me! And now I'm hiding again like a big, cowardly loser under some... space building!"

"Don't beat yourself up like that, Lars. That's what the killer robots are for." Steven told him.

"Quickly!" "Down here!" Two familiar voices said and we turned around and spotted a hand that pointed out of a hole in the ground. It beckoned them over.

"Steven? What if it's a trap?" Lars asked.

"Uh… I don't think we have a choice!" Steven said and we quickly jumped down the hole before one of the robonoids followed them. A rock covered up the whole and Steven and Lars shivered and then sighed in relief.

"Close one, huh?" lars sad.

"Ha, yeah. But, who…?" Steven asked.

"Don't worry!" A shadowy figure approached us. "You're safe now! We're not gonna hurt you."

"Thank you! Whoever… you…" Lars said and the gemstone of th figure began to flow and revealed a familiar conjoined Gems at the waist. The Rutile Twins were tall, slender, conjoined twin Gems with short maroon hair that was style dup to a point at the top and light red skin. They had one pair of legs and arms, but two torsos and heads, and they lacked noses. Their gemstones had a "Y" shape and was located on the navel, where their bodies connected. Their body shouldn't be confused with a forced fusion, because it wasn't. The gem split in two making a V shape. The Rutile Twins wore an open toed dark red and black bodysuit, which was red with black stripes on their right and black with red stripes on their left half.

Lars scremaed and the Rutile Twins flinched in response and Steven released my hand and showed himself. The Gems stared at him in a mixture of shock and confusion. "It's okay, Lars. Thank you for saving us."

"You… You turned invisible…" Rutiles said. "But… That's impossible only Bl- I mean an old Gem was able to do that… But she's been gone for so long."

"But she's right here." Steven said and pointed to where he thought I was, which he was correct. I released my invisibility and looked at them.

"It's been a while Rutiles." I told them and showed them my gemstone.

"That's. No that's impossible." Rutiles said and moved closer. "But that cut and color, it can't be mistaken, it's the only one of it's kind."

"What do you mean?" Steven asked.

"Of the Carbonado gemstones, I'm the only one with a radiant cut." I explained to him. "Though I must admit the radiant cut is rather popular amongst gems. My gemstone color is the darkest as well… with the… impurities."

"But it is nice to see you. Very nice, those are numbers are much smaller now." Rutiles explained. "The ones with you How bizarre! What are they? They certainly don't look like Gems we've ever seen before." Though it was interrupted by the sound of Robonoids overhead. "Come, this way. This way, come!" They walked forward and I followed them.

After some time Steven and Lars caught up with us. "Umm… Excuse me, but umm… Where are you taking us?"

"Somewhere… long forgotten. Where only those who don't belong… belong." They explained and I noticed they they were almost glued to my side which made me feel happy but also sad, because I didn't receive these reactions from Blue or Yellow.

"Heh, sounds like my kind of place. You don't happen to have any fast-food joints around there do you?" Lars asked.

"Gems don't need to eat." I told him and we arrived at the end of the abandoned Kindergarten. There were holes catered everything that were almost endless, going through a entryway in a wall led to another part of the Kindergarten, where the Off Colors lived. The Kindergarten was almost completely underground.

"Whoa…" Steven said.

"What is this palace?" Lars asked.

"A Kindergarten.. A really, really big one." Steven said.

"It was the first one ever created, in the beginning." I explained. "Before we even called it Era One. It was a simpler time."

"Just how old are you Suha?" Steven asked me and I smiled distantly.

"Older than you can imagine, old enough where you forgot how many eons have passed. Where time doesn't matter." I told them.

"So you really are a Dia-" Steven started to say but the Rutiles whistles loudly as they entered a tunnel through a pillar.

"We're back! Here we are! It's okay to come out!" Rutiles said.

"Oh, thank goodness! I hope you weren't followed!" Rhodonite entered the room through a tunnel.

She had a somewhat muscular build that resemble Garnet's, with pink skin and a long pointed nose that was slightly turned upward. She had wide black, afro styled hair with a mauve highlights. She had four arms, a pair of which were thick and muscular, like her Ruby half, and another pair on her waist that was thin, like her Pearl half. She wore a black and mauve jumpsuit with a diamond shaped cutout at the navel, which revealed her Ruby gem, and mauve leggings, with one leg that covered her entire right leg and the other only covered part of her left thigh. She had a black ballet flat on her right foot and a mauve boot on her left. She also wore a sheer pink shawl over the Pearl gem on her chest and had deep burgundy gloves from the elbow-down on her lower set of arms. She also possessed four eyes with the top pair wide and expressive like a Pearl's but with dark pupils like a Ruby, and the bottom pair more closed and reserved and with light-colored pupils like a Pearl.

Her outfit and hair design, looked like a mash-up of her constituent Gems' appearances rather than an even mix. "You weren't, right, I hope, you double checked!" She saw the three of us and gasped in fright. "You've been followed!"

"Rhodonite you have the same form as before." I told her and she paused.

"She even knows my name! It's the end for all of us!" She sobbed. Same old Rhodonite.

"Uh, hi." Steven said and approached her though she backed off. "Don't worry, I'm not a threat of anything."

"It's okay, Rhodonite. Relax. We brought them here." Rutiles said. "Plus we can't kick out our founder."

"Founder?" Rhodonite asked and I felt my gem glow and I lifted up my hands and all eyes watched as a black flame came from my hands. It felt almost nostalgic. "Wait! Wait! No impossible!" She looked like she wanted to cry.

"Everyone! A wondrous prediction has come before me! The twins of Rutile will bring one, no... Two... strangers to our current place of hiding! A surprise return! A visitor! Our leader has returned!" A high pitched voice said and I felt arms wrap around me. Padparadscha was a Gem with the same height and overall appearance to Sapphire. She had a peachy orange colored complexion, full lips, and shoulder length, pale peach hair, with bangs that covered her eye and a cowlick on top of her head. Her attire consisted of a white, peach, and orange floor-length ruffled gown, with a white collar, shoulder pads, and elbow-length gloves. The skirt was peach, and it had an orange upper layer with an off-white trim and was tied back into a three-notched bow. Her gemstone was located on the back of her right hand.

"We know, Padparadscha, your prediction already happened!" Rhodonite said and quickly went over towards me and shook my hands and bowed her heads. "Oh you must forgive me! It's been an eon since we last saw you! I feel ashamed that I was unable to recognize the Gem that bravely protected us… me! Maybe I deserve to be shattered after all!"

"Rhodonite, you're forgiven, really this form looks hardly like my original." I told her. "You're not my Pearl after all."

"As kind and forgiving as often!" She said quickly.

"Let… me… see..." A giant Fusion, known as Fluorite appeared. She didn't look outwardly humanoid, but instead looked like a large caterpillar. The size of a multi-story building. Fluorite had a 6-segmented body with each segment being seafoam green, earthy grayish natural blue, dark blue, indigo purple, then purplish pink, though the colors below her head may be a boat-necked section-colored bodysuit. Each of her first two body segments had a pair of slender arms.

The first of these arm pairs had elbow-length pale periwinkle gloves. Both arms were small-handed, and blue, although the lower pair seems more muscular. The other three body segments had short, thick legs with corresponding darker-colored boots. She had a total of six gemstones: two larger gems on her forehead, three on her first body segment, and one on her second body segment. Her gemstones displayed moderately vibrant colors: earthy pink, lime-green, dark blue, light periwinkle blue, soft yellow and mixed-earthy purple, occasionally differing in coloration due to the lighting.

She had six interactive eyes, with the top two pairs being teal and the bottom pair being lavender; the bottom pair often stays closed, which created the appearance of elderly wrinkles, while the top pair often behaved as eyebrows. She had a large, bulbous nose which tapered softly up near her eyes and wavy, near shoulder-length, fluffy pale turquoise hair with a variety of intermixed styles due to her complexity with no bangs, likely due to her forehead gems. She wore a pinkish-violet, bluish-purple, and dark blue wide-striped puffy vest that has 4 round sleeve-holes for her arms, and drapes loosely over her top two body segments.

"My… my… it… is… wonderful… to… see… you… again… Though… I… do… miss… how… you… towered… over… my… height…" She said as slowly as usual.

"It's great to see you as well. It seems you've gotten bigger." I told her. "Are you up to six now?"

"Correct…" She said and Greg and Lars started to introduce themselves to the Off Colors.

"What do you mean… 'off-color'?" Steven asked.

"You know, wrong. Not… right. Flawed." Rutiles said.

" Wait… I don't see anything wrong with you guys." Steven said. Fluorite explained how they weren't seen as 'correct' by Gem society and how they came to be. "Then why are you the founder? How are you an off-color?" He asked me.

"I used the name 'Off color' as a joke, it was often my nickname, because of my color. I absorb all light, reflecting none back, and was considered 'weak' to everyone. I was considered the first defective gem. I was even called corrupted a few times." I explained to him.

"But she is very strong, difficult to cut! She has a unique composition! Even if she is different than the other Di- Gems! Entirely opaque and valuable!" Rhodonite said and I smiled lightly at her.

"I think so too!" Steven said. "Anyone who called you or any of the others defective or off colors are wrong!"

"Yes you're right. But claiming a former negative word, makes it lose some of it's power, under certain circumstances." I told him. The peace didn't last long because the sounds of the Robonoids started to become noticeable. The red light of a Robonoid's scanning beam illuminated a nearby tunnel. As the Off Colors hid themselves, Lars took up the courage to defend us. It was incredible, but also nerve wreaking. I couldn't help but feel nervous about him, fighting those flying and dangerous robots. It seemed like he had something to prove, because he didn't want any help and only wanted to protect us.

Lars rammed the rock shard right into the Robonoid's sensor and caused it to explode. He was sent flying backward in the air, his hit his head against the pillar with a cracking sound and fell onto the ground, laying motionlessly. Steven and I rushed over and I felt panic hit me.

"Lars? Lars?" I said and felt tears running down my face, for someone I hardly knew. The sound seemed to fade as I looked at Lars motionless body. Any cheers were droned out and I felt a sharp pain hit my chest. The room seemed to grow darker and colder the more I stared at him. No it seemed to turn gray, his body started to darken into a deep grey. Loss… Loss… The feeling of losing someone.. I knew it too well...

Because he reminded me of…

Steven tried to listen for Lars's heartbeat on his chest and gasped in shock, I knew he heard nothing. Steven burst into tears and the room grew silent. Steven picked up Lars and held him close. Steven began to grieve over Lars' sacrifice and tears rushed down his cheek and onto Lars' face. His body began to glow.

"Pink…" I whispered so quietly that only I could hear. It made me wonder, as they watched in shock and surprise as Lars' body turned pink and his hair turned light pink…

It made me wonder…

If I ever gave myself the time to grieve, for Pink, who I knew all along once I visited Earth… That she was Rose Quartz.

Grieve for the lost relationship that I could never receive.


	32. (32) Lars' Head

"What the heck just happened?-" Lars said immediately after Steven resurrected him. Steven hugs Lars tightly.

"Lars! You saved us! You stopped the Robonoids, but- but one of them exploded, and- and you weren't moving, and I started crying." Steven cried and gasped. "I brought you back to life! It was an accident. I mean, I probably would've done that on purpose if I had known I could do that, but I didn't really ask your permission, so I'm sorry."

Lars *confused* "Back to life? So I was... away from life? Aah!" Lars said confused and looked at his body. "I'm pink!"

"Ah I know! Do you feel okay?" Steven asked.

"I don't… really know." Lars muttered.

"But your body, are you sore?" Steven asked.

"No."

"Are you tired?"

"No."

"Do you feel good?"

"No?"

"Do you feel bad?"

"No?! I guess I just feel really freaked out?" Lars yelled anxiously.

"Well, I am, too, so at least we're on the same page here." Steven said and there was a noise in the distance.

"They're back. Those Shattering Robonoids are back!" Rhodonite screamed.

"Quickly... Block the entrance…" Fluorite said as slow as usual. I run over with the rest and block the entrance.

"I predict, Lars will change in hue. What a mystery!" Padparadscha said happily.

"Is this gonna be enough?" Rhodonite asked and the red beams shine from the gap in the entrance and the noise fades in the distance.

"They..seem...to have...overlooked us...for...the time...being…" Fluorite said.

"Quickly, block the entrance!" Padparadscha yells.

"I was going to say… Steven doesn't Lars look a lot like Lion?" I asked him and Steven paused and looked at Lars. "Pink skin, light pink hair…"

"But that would mean that Lion…" Steven trailed off sadly and then pauses. "Lars… can I try something? If you're anything like Lion, then you might be able to… no. You don't want me going in your head."

"You're going to... possess me again?" Lars asked with an uncomfortable expression on is face.

"No. It would be more literal." Steven said.

"Then what is it?" Lars asked.

"Forget it." Steven said quickly.

"Look, Steven, I'm not gonna get mad, okay? I trust you, just... Help me out here. If I've got magic hair now, I want to know." Lars said kindly and Steven smiles.

"Everyone stand back." Steven said with a smile and all of us take a step back and after a minute Steven disappeared. I spent the two minutes that Steven was gone trying to reassure everyone that Steven was fine and would come back. It took only minutes for him to return with a paper bag full with food and drinks. I grab both Steven and Lars before they collapse on the ground.

"Sorry, Lars." Steven apologized.

"So what happened? What's in my head?" Lars asked.

"Home." Steven said simply.

"Wha?" Lars asked confused and I face palmed, Steven was never the best at explaining things.

"Everyone, I've made an amazing discovery! I just traveled back to planet Earth by going through Lars' head!" Steven announced.

"You went back to Earth? What the heck? Is my head like a wormhole?" Lars said in shock.

"No, it's way simpler than that. You see, I have a pink pet lion who belonged to my mom when she was still here, and it turns out I can go into his mane, and it transports me to a magical dimension where my mom kept a bunch of artifacts on a hill with a tree, and for some reason, I can't breathe in there. But anyway, when I went into Lars' head, I got transported to the same magical dimension, but it was a new part of it, but since the two are connected, I could reach the portal that leads out of Lion's mane, which is back on Earth!"

"Steven that wasn't simply at all." I told him and he rubbed his head embarrassed. Steven offers Lars and I food and drinks. I immediately take them, though I wasn't hungry, but Lars didn't budge not feeling the need for hunger or thirst.

"What is this box?" Rhodonite asked as she picked up a juice box.

"It's juice. We drink it back on Earth." Steven explained.

"What?" Rhodonite said confused.

"That's impossible." Rutiles said together.

"Earth?" Rhodonite said.

"There's no way." Rutiles said together and Rhodonite agreed with their statement.

"Steven's back." Padparadscha said.

"That can't be. I'm incredulous." The Twins split up their sentence.

"What can't it be?" Steven asked.

"Everyone...knows...that...the Earth…" Fluorite said with a surprised look on her face.

"Was decimated by the Diamond attack! Sorry." Rhodonite said hysterically.

"It's not like that. The Diamonds did attack, but there are still Gems living on Earth, and the planet's full of life." Steven said and held up the bag. "It grew the potatoes that became these chips." He held up the extra sandwich. "And grew the wheat that eventually became the flour that eventually became the bread that eventually became this sandwich!"

"Why would you live there?" Rhodonite asked. "After what happened…"

"I had to find some answers for myself." I told her. "But apparently I lost some of my memory in the process. I can't seem to remember everything yet."

"Do... you... know… Who... you… are…?" Fluorite asked.

"Vaguely. I can't control what memories come and what go. I just follow my feelings most of the time." I told her. Steven then explains that all of us can return back to Earth, but as Steven tries to pull Lars' arm into the pocket dimension, he realized that Lars would have to stay.

"Okay, so that didn't work, but I'm sure there's another way." Steven says immediately after he left Lars' head.

"No, no, look. I get it. Everyone just go, and I'll stay here. There's no other way out. I'm it. The Earth is way better than this. There's no robots flying around. Just seagulls that fly in front of the sunset and it's beautiful! Just go, you'll see. I took it for granted, so don't pass up this chance!" Lars said, sacrificing himself.  
Rhodonite "Well, if you insist." Rhodonite said and began to walk forward until the Rutile Twins stopped her.

"We...won't...do it. ...Not if it means...leaving you...behind…" Fluorite explained.

"What?! I'm trying to perform a beautiful act over here."

"We...know...this...planet. ...We've...been...hiding in these tunnels...for eons. ...You'll...need us...to help you...get around. ...Besides, ...us...Off-Colors...stick...together." She said with a smile.

"We'll get to Earth another way. We'll find an alternate route." Rutiles said.

Lars points to me and Steven. "But you've got to go back."

"But it doesn't feel right to just leave you here." Steven said sadly.

"You said yourself that everyone on this planet is out to get you. You won't be safe until you're back on Earth." Lars said.

"But, Lars-" Steven argues.

"Don't argue with me! You're always trying to help me. You brought me back to life. Just... Let me be somebody who deserved it." Lars said and looked over at me. "I never really got to know you, but what you did back at that castle… building… thing.. Was really impressive, plus you helped form the Off-Colors, so I hope you'll be able to help Steven when he needs it."

I smile at him. "You got it Lars."

"All right, We'll tell everyone you're okay. We'll be back. I can bring whatever you need. Be careful, okay?" Steven said.

"We...will…" Fluorite said.

"We can't leave without Lars!" Padparadscha added.

"We'll see you on Earth, I hope. No, no, no. We will!" Rhodonite said and I gave the Off-Colors a hug.

"I'll see you all soon, and this time I'll make sure to protect all of you and the rest of the Off-Colors we don't even know." They return the hug.

"We wouldn't be here without you my Dia- I mean." Rhodonite said and I smile at her. As Lars and Steven hug each other the Off-Colors form the Diamond Salute and bow.

"Goodbye, my Diamond." They said in a different rhythm of each other that suited the Off-Colors, a not perfect and precise goodbye was exactly what I was looking for. Steven led me through the pocket dimension.

"It's beautiful." I told him and he nodded after a second of staring at me, I could see him confirming something in his eyes. We climb out of Lion's mane just as the Gems, Connie and Greg warp on the Crystal Temple Warp Pad.

"This is hopeless." Peal said and Steven gasped in surprise. "We'll never get that dropship to fly, and we're losing time! Who knows what they're doing to Steven and Suha. Hi Steven, Hi Suha. What are we going to d-" She finally noticed us.

"I'm back!" Steven said and all of them us to embrace us and I felt myself relax. Even after being back at Homeworld, my true home, has always been here.


	33. (33) Raising the Barn

After arriving back on Earth, things started to change and more than one way. Not only was Connie made at Steven, but she also took Lion away. She hadn't spoken to him for weeks and it was leaving Steven rather depressed. Connie wasn't my friend, but I couldn't help but feel bad for Steven. Though Connie was upset for a good reason, it was selfish to leave but it was the only choice. It wasn't great that she couldn't understand his rationale.

I wasn't doing so great either, Garnet and Amethyst were upset that I left and Pearl seemed conflicted. They didn't say anything to me for about a week, so Steven and I went to explain the situation with Lars to Sadie, which she cried over. We were going to go to Lars' house to explain what happened to his parents. But there was a protest against "Major 'Billiam' Dewey' and a campaign for a new major. In the end Nanefua ended up becoming the next major of Beach City.

Another week had passed and Steven was looking at a photo of Connie on the shelf in our shared room. "She'll call when she's ready. For now, you just have to let go." Steven said and lifted himself up and placed his phone is his pocket.

"She'll forgive you Steven, it just might take some time." I told him and placed a hand on his shoulders.

"Thanks Suha." He then grabbed his ukulele and we walked out the Beach House. "So… Are you going to tell them… who you are?"

"You mean that I'm a Diamond?" I asked him and he looked down and nodded. It was obvious that he was uncomfortable. "I want to, but I'm not sure when... It hard you know, to tell them 'I pretended to be a half-Gem because I couldn't face what happened to Pink.'"

"What was Pink Diamond like?" Steven asked me and I blinked.

"We weren't close, but I guess we were a lot alike the more I think about it. I always thought that Pink received all the attention from the other Diamonds, she had a colony, they actually talked to her etc., while I was on the outside. They thought I was weak and not a true Diamond because I absorb all the light and considered me an 'Off-Color'. But I'm not sure anymore, a lot of things… about Pink Diamond's shattering just don't make any sense, but I can't remember everything yet… Why did I change my form and pretend to be human? Why are my memories so strange… There's so many unanswered questions."

"Something off about Pink Diamond's shattering… Just like what Blue Zircon said…" Steven said.

"You'll think I'm crazy but I think Pink-" Steven's phone began to buzz and I forgot my thoughts as Steven says:

"Okay, Universe. This is it! Connie's finally ready to talk. No expectations. Just let her say what she needs to say!" He looked down at his phone and I noticed that it was Peridot who was video-calling him. He sighs and answers her call.

"Steven!" I poke my head in. "Suha! It's us!" Lapis comes into frame and I sent her a smile.

"Hey Lapis! Peridot! It's been awhile!" Understatement of the era.

"It's nice to see you again Suha." Lapis said with a blush.

"Don't forget Pumpkin!" Peridot held up Pumpkin and she barked excitedly.

"Hi, Pumpkin!" Steven and I say happily.

"I told you he'd answer." Peridot said as she turned to Lapis.

"It's so good to see you. I'm glad you're okay." Lapis said.

"Lapis was worried you lost your phone on Homeworld, but I said, "No way! He's probably just ignoring us."" Steven blushes.

"Sorry, guys. There's been... a lot going on."

"Like what? Tell us!" Peridot said quickly.

"Well, Connie's really mad at me-"

"No, no, no, no. Tell us about space!"

"And start from the beginning." Lapis said.

"Uh Steven-" I tried to stop him but he cut me off.

"Uhh, ok. We were trying to protect Beach City, so I surrendered myself to Homeworld, then Suha followed me and I was put in a big, empty room, and I ended up on trial in front of the Diamonds!" Steven said.

"On trail?!" Lapis yelled.

"What?" Peridot said quickly.

"In front of the Diamonds?!" Lapis yelled with even more anxiety.

"Yeah, and…" Steven started and I cover my face with my hands. This wasn't going to be pretty.

"You were in front of Blue Diamond?!" Lapis yelled.

"And Yellow!" Steven added almost defensively. " But it's okay. We escaped in a palanquin and went underground and…"

"You ran from Blue and Yellow Diamond!?"

"Yes."

"Peridot, We have to leave Earth, now!" Lapis yelled and quickly hung up.

"Uh-oh…" He turned to me. "Why didn't you tell me not to tell them?!"

"I tried!" I yelled back. "You know how Lapis is!" He pulled his hair and grabbed my hand andp pulled me up easily.

"We have to stop them from leaving!" He then dragged me along onto the warp pad and runt onwards Lapis, Peridot and Pumpkin. Lapis and Peridot continued to have a back and forth with Peridot making excuses on not leaving the Eath. She looked uncomfortable and semi-panicking.

"We'll find some remote spot in the universe to hide out in. The Diamonds will never find us." Lapis said trying to get all of us to come with her.

"Lapis, don't worry. They're looking for me on Homeworld. They don't know I'm here. We're safe." Steven tried to reassure her.

"Yeah! Come on, we've gotten away with worse. They've never been able to hunt me down for my many crimes against them." Peridot added.

"This is different! Steven is important, and our transgressions are piling up!" She put her hand on Peridot's shoulder. "They're going to take their anger out on this planet, just like they did before. I can't." Her grip tightened. "I won't let myself get caught up in another war." Pumpkin hid behind Peridot and whimpered anxiously.

"I don't want you to leave, but, I won't ask you guys to stay if you don't feel safe. If you have to go... I understand." Steven said and Lapis tried to hurry Peridot along but she kept making more excuses like a 'meep morp' Lapis told her that it was fine and eventually Peridot gave in, guilt and anxiousness on her face. Lapis walked pass us and turned toward the barn, she used her powers to drain the water from the pool outside the barn.

"Ga-hah! Our smaller-than-average lake! Guh!" Peridot exclaimed. A water wall began to emerge from the ground around the barn and Lapis used the water to separate the barn away from the ground and it rose into the air. Lapis gave Steven and I a hug and Peridot started to ear up.

"Wait! Where's Pumpkin?" Peridot asked quickly.

"She's not inside?' Lapis asked.

"She was just standing next to me! We have to find her." Peridot explained and Lapis lowered the barn back onto the ground and refilled the pool with water again.

"I'll check from above. Peridot, you search the ground." Lapis flies off and we help Peridot try to find Pumpkin in the farm field while yelling her name. We weren't able to find her in the fields so we move to a wooded area.

"You know, I'm really gonna miss you guys when you're in space." Steven said.

"It felt like you just got here. Now you're leaving." I said sadly. "Without you we wouldn't have been able to know about the Cluster or the Moon Base…"

"Well, that's a given. I'm a very precious Gem. Without me, you would've crumbled under The Cluster's destructive force or have been smushed by Jasper. I'm -" Peridot said. Steven then pointed to an orange object on the ground and peridot runs towards it. Peridot picked up up but it was only a basketball.

"You know, I can probably still help you when I'm out in space. I'll just video-chat from my tablet!" Peridot said with a happy tone.

"Uhh, t-there's no Wi-Fi in space." Steven explained.

"...Well, maybe it's best if we can't reach you. If the Diamonds do show up and destroy the planet, we'll never know!" Peridot looks at us with a mixed look on her face. "Lapis was very agitated when she heard you were on Homeworld. I was bending over backwards to make her feel better. Watch this." She bent over backwards in an unnatural way and Steven laughs.

"That is good."

"Oh, yeah. She loves this." Peridot then groans and I help her back up and we walk out of the woods. "Maybe it's good that we'll be away from everything where nothing can change, no surprises or developments. She's been through so much. She needs consistency."

Steven and I stop walking and ask at the same time. "But what about you?" She looked down with the same mixed look on her face. But we find another 'Kindergartner' which was really just some strange kid named 'Onion' that I've heard about from Steven. He was a kid with a small tuft of blonde hair and a chubby face. He wore a white sweater, a deep periwinkle shirt tied around his neck, and pale red footie pants. He had an onion-like head (although the top was thinner than the bottom, not resembling a normal onion). He didn't have any visible ears.

With no luck, they return back to the barn, only to find Pumpkin in the cornfield. "Pumpkin?" She whimpers and runs into the cornfield. "Have you been here the whole time?!" Peridot asked angrily.

"She was hiding?" Steven asked.

"She doesn't want to go." I said but Peridot paid no mind.

"Come on, Pumpkin. We need to leave." Pumpkin whimpers. "Pumpkin!" She runs into the cornfield. "Don't you walk away while I'm talking to you!" Pumpkin whimpers loudly as Peridot drags her out of the cornfield by her tail. Peridot grunted. "Sometimes, you have to do things you don't want to do, like get jettisoned into space to live forever on a floating rock with a barn, and just us as for as long as time exists! Lapis needs us!" Pumpkin whimpers again ands truffles to get away from Peridot.

"Peridot, give her a second!" Steven yelled to Peridot.

"She's doing it to herself! Pumpkin, Do as you're told!" She said angrily and lost the grip on Pumpkin's tail and fell backwards onto the ground. "Gah!" Pumpkin jumped into Stevens arms whimpering. "Whoa, Peridot. It sounds like you don't really want to go."

Peridot picked herself off of the ground and walked towards us. "I'm sorry, Pumpkin. I didn't mean to yank you around. It's just…" She placed Pumpkin in her arms. "We don't have a choice in this."

"What do you mean you "don't have a choice"? Peridot, you should really talk to Lapis about this." Steven said angrily and Peridot kissed Pumpkin on the forehead.

"I can't." She said and walked away from us.

I frowned. "Why? Your feelings matter too Peridot, you can't just think about Lapis and crush your own feelings in the process." Peridot looked down and stopped walking. Just as Lapis flew back down and landed in front of her.

"Oh, great! You found her!" Lapis said happily and we stare at her blankly. "Now, let's go!" We walk back towards the barn and Lapis raised the barn into the air. Peridot turned to us and looked over at us nervously. Peridot glanced at Lapis and anxiously gathered up her thoughts.

"Wait... Lapis? Pumpkin doesn't want to go." Peridot said and Lapis turned her head back towards Peridot with a confused look on her face.

"Pumpkin doesn't know better. We do." Lapis turned her head back around and continued to focus on the barn.

"Actually…" Peridot turned to me and I gave her a small smile that I hoped would help her feel confident. "I… I don't want to go either."

"What?!" Lapis yelled and was paralyzed with shock. She turned back toward Peridot and the barn crashed back onto the ground and we yell in shock. Pumpkin yelped in fright and ran behind Steven. Steven and I share a cautious look as we focus back onto Lapis and Peridot.

"Peridot, what are you trying to say?" Lapis asked.

"It's just, if something happens on Earth, I want to be here for it!" Peridot explained.

"But- No! Why are you telling me this now?!" She asked with a mixture of anger and confusion.

"Because... we're about to leave!" Peridot yelled.

"Isn't that the worst time?" Lapis asked.

It was true.

Peridot raised her index finger into the air with a static, blank expression.

"Yes."

Steven looked at them with quiet fear in his ees and mumbled nervously.

"Then why didn't you tell me sooner?" Lapis asked confused.

"Well, there are many things I should say, but they would upset you, so in general, I don't say those things...?" Peridot trailed off.

"Peridot, that's lying!" Lapis said angrily and Steven groaned as his anxiety increased. I felt all my muscles tense up as I watched them.

"Okay, then! The truth is... I think that we should stay, and if- and if the time comes, if the Diamonds do come to wipe this planet off the star maps, I think we should fight for this life we've built instead of tearing it up out of the ground! I think we can win. I think you can win! Earth is our home now. Isn't it worth fighting for?" Peridot reached her hand out to Lapis.

"What do ya say, Lapis?" Steven asked. Lapis lowered her head in sorrow and turned her back to Peridot and walked towards the barn.

"I am not getting caught in the middle of another war." She said and sprouted her water wings and began to lift the barn into the air.

It felt like it was for the last time.

"Wait! No! You're supposed to reward me for my emotional honesty!" Peridot yelled weakly. Lapis flied into the air as she lifted the barn higher, it broke away from the plumbing. She looked back at us before taking off into the sky, with the barn along with her. Steven walked toward Peridot who stood frozen in place and placed a hand on her back.

"Come on. Let's go." He said and with a silence as a response, we walk back to the warp pad. I grab one of our extra mattresses and placed it in the bathtub for Peridot and Pumpkin. Peridot sat on the toilet in a daze.

"Okay. You're all set up, and you can stay here as long as you need." Steven said and Peridot got off of the toilet and walked toward the mattress,

"Wow…" She groaned and climbed onto the mattress. "Thanks…." We sit down next to the tub as Peridot lied face down on the mattress. Steven pulled out his phone and checked it. Nor response from Connie.

"What do we do now?..." Peridot asked we gave her no response. We gazed off in silence in the bathroom.


	34. (34) Back to the Kindergarten

Suha's POV

We went on a small vacation because the Gems thought that me and Steven were messed up over going to Homeworld and meeting the Diamonds. Though that wasn't why Steven was feeling upset or anxious, it was because Connie wasn't texting him back and it had been weeks. Pearl was also trying to explain something important to Steven, that I had a theory as to what it was, but she must've been forced not to say anything because her hand kept covering her mouth which was disturbing to say the least.

I had been dealing with the conversation or argument / accusation with my relatives the Diamonds and about my current form. I knew I wasn't human, more of a Gem that wanted to pretend to be a human or liked doing human things like Amethyst. I knew that I made myself age up from being a 'baby' because I lived in the orphanage and never heard any mean things about me not growing up. So I knew I or rather Black Diamond was aware of the human concept of aging.

I knew that Black Diamond, myself, was the leader and creator of the Off-Colors, I had a bad relationship with Blue and Yellow because of my 'Off-Colorness', I had a Pearl who I was close to, Black Diamond escaped to Earth once Pink was shattered, she spent her days amongst the humans and for some reason she forgot her memory and made me/her think that we were a Hybrid Gem like Steven.

Thinking of myself as Black Diamond was still confusing, not to mention only Steven knew about me being Black Diamond and everything. I couldn't seem to figure out how to tell the Gems, especially since I didn't have all the answers myself. The more I thought of it, the more I made my head hurt. Groaned as I heard the Cookie Cat alarm clock buzz, waking up Steven. I turned my back to him as he did his morning routine. Until I heard a familiar high pitched sound come from the Temple Gate. I looked over and saw Amethyst, Pumpkin barked excitedly and ran towards her.

After exchanging pleasantries, Amethyst and Steven dragged Peridot out of the bathroom. Which she had been in for about two weeks. "Hey we're heading to the Kindergarten, you wanna come?" Amethyst asked.

"Yeah, just tell Steven to text me when you guys arrive, I'm guessing your taking the train right?"

"How did you-" Steven asked and then his eyes lit up.

"I stowed onto the train before when I escaped my former orphanage." I told him, suddenly feeling old, or older since by human years I was ancient.

"I forgot that you followed us after we left the train." Amethyst said.

"I still don't get it, aren't you a Gem? Why were you pretending to be like Steven all this time?" Peridot asked and I groaned.

"Don't even ask me. I still can't remember everything." I told her. "Most days I have more questions than answers."

After sometime they left and once it was the evening I received a text from Steven and warped my way to the Kindergarten. "Good ol' Kindergarten! Just the way I left it! Aww, some things never change. Gah- Actually, everything's different now! Man, I-I used to think this place was full of empty holes, but now it's like, it's empty with holes which were once full! All those Amethysts I met in space, they were all here! While I was right there in the ground. But now, I can finally start putting some faces to holes! Hohohoh, let's see... Hup!" Amethyst proceeded to hop from hole to hole. "This must've been 8XJ! Ooh! 8XK! 8XL!"

"Actually, the order goes from top to bottom. That's 8XJ." Peridot said.

"Really?'

"Yes. Curly hair, right?" She asked.

"Yeah! How'd you know?"

"You can tell from the iron deposits in the formation there. And that's 8XL down below." She explained and Amethyst hopped down to expect the hole.

"Whoa, that's pretty amazing, Dot." Amethyst said and Peridot blushed and smiled from the complement, but then turned gloomy.

"This used to make sense to me. I thought life was generated in a Kindergarten. Formless, aimless energy channeled into new, useful Gems. But life doesn't start in a Kindergarten. It ends here. I've gotten used to plants everywhere. Bugs and breeze and sunshine... All of that has been sucked out of this place. It's with the Amethysts that were produced here, and now, this place is nothing but a miserable husk. All of the Amethysts are gone."

"Hey!" Amethyst yelled.

"Oh, all the well-made Amethysts are gone." Peridot said.

"Yo, not better."

"If it makes you feel any better, the other Kindergarten's are much worse then this one." I told her and they looked over at me. "When some of the first Kindergartens were made, they completely destroyed the planets. Era 1 was quite a mess."

"How would you know that?" Peridot said and Amethyst had a confused look on her face.

"Yeah, you were found on Earth! How do you know that?!"

"I'm older than I look." I told them and jumped down from the warp pad. "Just cause I was found on Earth, doesn't mean I'm one of Pink's Gems." I looked over towards Amethyst's hole and noticed a flower. "What's a flower doing here?"

"Wait1' Amethyst jumped down and observed the flower. " Oh! I've never seen anything growing here, and I've been hanging around this joint for 5,000 years. Man, it looks healthy, too."

"Wow! That's Earth for you: Always bouncing back." Steven said.

"I don't know. I'd have to run some tests to see if this is not an anomaly." Peridot said.

"You want to try planting stuff here? You know how to farm!" Steven asked Peridot happily.

"Yeah, that could be fun!" Amethyst joined in.

"It could be an interesting experiment." Peridot said.

"Isn't it too damaged?" I asked and Steven motioned for me not to say anything.

"Yeah! Let's re-garden the Kindergarten!" Steven said before Peridot noticed anything.

We warp back to the Kindergarten, bringing along gardening tool, some sunflowers and Peridot's tractor, and a montage begins. Rocks are moved to make way for the tractor to plow and cultivate the soil. Holes are dug in the soil and the sunflowers are planted into them, after fertilizers are added. Steven and Amethyst begins watering the sunflowers by blasting them with water guns. Peridot calls it off, suggesting they sprinkle the water from above instead, using Amethyst as a helicopter. Lastly, Amethyst puts a plastic flamingo next to the sunflower field, and the trio celebrates. Though I had a feeling that it might not work.

I go back with them on the train the next day with a sinking feeling in my stomach. As we arrive to the Kindergarten. There were dead sunflowers on the ground. Peridot picks one up, and it disintegrates with the wind. We look on nervously to see what Peridot does next.

"Well, I don't know why I'm surprised. I should've known not to have hope." Peridot said angrily.

"But maybe if we try again-" Steven said.

"It's not going to work! It's never going to work, okay?!" She yelled.

"Hey, don't be a jerk! We were just trying to cheer you up." Amethyst shot back.

"And good job with that! I feel just great now that I know that nothing's ever going to get better! Everything is just ruined forever! We can't get any of it back! Not my home! Not Lapis! And not this crummy planet, either! We might as well just throw it all in the garbage and toss ourselves in after, because it's all just hopeless trash!"

"Peridot, maybe the sunflowers didn't work, but we know something can grow here." Steven said calmly and he points to the flower. Peridot walked toward it.

"This clod's just like us! Too dumb to get with the program!" She stomped on the flower and I wince feeling back for the flower. Suddenly the ground starts to rumble. The ground around the flower cracked and a monster popped out of the ground and roared at us. The Flower Monster was a large plant-like corrupted Gem whose body resembles a giant turnip with the top of her body tapering into a leafy stem with a five-petaled flower on top. She lacked a defined head or face, having only a cavernous, fanged maw at the front of her teardrop-shaped body. Her tongue resembled a humanoid arm in shape and function, which is used for pulling victims into her mouth. She walks on four root-like, three-toed legs. "Oh, of course!"

The Flower Monster tried to grab Peridot and I push myself in front of her as it's hand-like tongue grabbed me and I found myself in darkness. "Gross." I said and felt my gem glow. The gem moved around tossing me around in her body and I made myself concentrate, there was heart building on my arms and I felt the body I was in heat up until there was a large poof. I felt myself fall in the air and felt a small hand grab mine and I opened my eyes and saw Peridot with tears in her eyes.

Smoky Quartz grabbed us in the sky and we land onto the ground. They place us down and I felt Peirdot pull me into a hug and I returned it as she apologized. There was a bright light.

Unknown POV

I opened my eyes and saw Steven and Amethyst looking at me in complete and happiness. "What?" I asked annoyed and froze. "Wait- wait- W-w-w-wait!" I said quickly and hooped up and ran around in a circle. "W-W-Who?! OMG! What have I done! This is! But I! I thought I was going to fuse with Lapis first!" I felt myself blush. "N-N-No I didn't mean that! I mean I did but…" I placed my hands on my head.

"You're so cute!" Steven yelled and I noticed I was taller than both of them by a head.

"I'm taller! I'm tall! Fear me!" I said happily and Steven pulled out his phone, he looked like he was glowing. In front of me was a girl with messy, teal green hair that went down to above her neck and had matching big teal green eyes. She head tick eyebrows, a small nose and a round face. She didn't have any curves around her chest, but from the waist down she had full tights and long legs. She had medium green shorts bra and an oversized teal green shirt that went down to her upper thigh and dark purple shorts and dark green leggings with green and black high heel boots.

"We really did fuse!" I said happily only to freeze as I felt gloom hit me as I looked around at the damaged and felt guilt hit me. There was another bright light.

Suha's POV

"I was a fool to think we could reinstitute life there." I heard Peridot say as we got onto the train.

"Tell me about it." Steven said with a sigh.

"All right. I will. I was pretty much using this as a distraction from losing Lapis, losing the barn, and just a general sense of complete hopelessness I tend to deal with on a day-to-day basis. But it really only confirmed to me that once you mess something up, it's ruined for good and nothing will ever be able to grow again."

"Yeah, we got the subtext." Amethyst said.

"... Oh, wow." Steven said and we looked at a vast field of sunflowers. "What about all this?"

"Now that's some plants." Amethyst said.

"Huh. Guess the countryside out here is pretty beautiful. But who cares? I wanted to have this for the Kindergarten!" Peridot said and looked over at me and looked away.

"Even if there was nothing we can do for that one patch of land, there's still a whole Earth blooming all around us." Steven said.

"Yeah! Why don't we try gardening in literally any other place? It'll be easier than trying to plant in the Kindergarten. That dirt doesn't care how green your thumb is." Amethyst said, Steven made a joke and eventually Peridot agreed.

"Oh and Suha… sorry I didn't mean to make you almost get yourself eaten by a giant Gem Flower Monster." She apologized.  
"No harm no foul." I told her and smiled. "Plus we got a cool fusion out of it."

"Let's see what's a good name for her.." Peridot asked.

"Well she's a Quartz… So how about…" I said.

"Mtorolite!" We said together and smiled.

"I like it." Steven said.

"Maybe we should fuse next, I wonder what she'll look like." Amethyst said.

"What is this? A fusion game with Suha?" I asked and they laughed. We have a group hug and things felt normal.


End file.
